Shame of the Nation Address

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

Fellow Ghanaians, the President has given 'The State of the Nation Address', his supporters and party members are applauding him. But listening to some ordinary Ghanaians on the streets and on social media, it is easy to tell that they are not impressed. Others have simply described it as 'business as usual'.

As a citizen of this great nation, I am invoking my rights under Chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution to express my views on the state of affairs of our country.

And before anyone questions my right to have a contrary view to the President on the state of affairs of our country, especially those who would demand to know what I have been doing to make the nation any better, I will not hesitate to point to such individuals, who are  also exercising their rights to free expression that I have been making in my view what is my 'widow's mite' of contributions to this country as a journalist. I am indeed making sacrifices in the line of duty to keep citizens informed, educated and entertained by breaking important news, writing and exposing some of the dangers in our society to alert citizens and to call for solutions to them. All these I have done for over four years without receiving compensation. While on the contrary, experts who are paid to solve the nation's problems, apparently look on helplessly, and in some instances unconcerned, while the majority of our citizenry suffer needlessly from lack of some of the basic necessities of life like potable water, sanitation facilities and inadequate electricity power supply.

Fastest growing economy

After 56 years of independence, it is shameful for Ghana to be in this current condition. The country was the fastest growing economy in the world in 2011 with a GDP growth rate of 14 percent. When the 2012 estimates are concluded, the country is expected to grow above 8 percent. While the numbers are looking good, there are no visible impacts of this growth on the majority of Ghanaians. There are no direct impacts on the standard of living of many Ghanaians.

FDI

Some sources elsewhere put foreign direct investments into the country in all the sectors at $32 billion and supported with investments from the oil sector. Revenue from oil, even though contributing a mere 1 percent of GDP has significantly contributed to this growth,and yet the country of about 24 million people can't find alternatives or solutions to its energy crisis. Despite this growing level of FDI into the country, the manufacturing sector is literally dead. FDI inflows into the country haven't stimulated appreciable growth in industry to create jobs.

Water and Sanitation

Water and sanitation facilities are inadequate, endangering the lives of 1000s of children under the age of five every year.

Currently, 19 out of every 100 Ghanaians openly defecate daily, either in the morning or evening or both, bringing the total figure to about five million a day, and  according to figures released by the Water and Sanitation Programme of the World Bank in April 2012, Ghana loses $79 million annually as a result of open defecation, making the country the fifth highest among 18 African countries analysed by the Bank.

The development charity, WaterAid, says although from 1990 to 2010 the population of Ghana grew by 9.4 million, only 2.3 million people secured access to sanitation over the same period.  In total, it says nearly 21 million (86%) out of Ghana’s 24 million people are without access to a safe improved toilet, while almost 50% use shared latrines and 19% practice open defecation.

In the last couple of months water is being rationed in the capital, just as electricity power is.

Uncompleted donor financed projects

The government applies for loans and grants to do projects that would improve the quality of lives of Ghanaians, but these projects are not completed on time, because government officials assigned to these projects are not working, they are playing what we call in Ghana 'delaying tactics' for reasons best known to themselves. The World Bank recently expressed its frustration with the government when it published the status of projects and programmes it is sponsoring in the country. About 50 percent of projects expected to be completed in three years are still uncompleted up to five years since they were started, some are even running into eight to nine years and meanwhile, $1.5 billion approved by the Bank for these projects are still sitting idle in accounts. This is only what is known from the World Bank. If all the other development partners would be bold enough to reveal the state of affairs of projects they are financing, it would not paint a good picture of the state of affairs in our country.

Energy

Despite the increased knowledge about the role of energy in industrialization, it is curious seeing the current distressing situation where power is rationed irrationally in the country. Small businesses can't grow to make the necessary impact on the economy because of the lack of regular supply of energy. In some places power is available fewer days in a working week, far and in-between during productive periods, denying small businesses the opportunity to be productive.

The country rushed to start commercial production of oil when plans could have been made to trap and use the natural petroleum gas from the oil field, just as Trinidad and Tobago has done, making it the world's leading supplier of gas. The country depends on the Akosombo dam which was built more than four decades ago, which has exceeded its capacity. A couple of thermal plants that have to depend on the irregular West Africa Gas Pipeline, have been shut, because the West Africa Gas Project has been out of order for some months now due to some accident offshore. The thermal plants can't be powered because gas is not flowing from the pipeline.

Businesses and citizens are bearing the brunt of what can arguably be called poor leadership, as most people have to sleep in the dark. There is also shortage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and most families are unable to cook food - an obvious possible situation that can lead to deforestation as some people might be compelled to return to using charcoal or wood fuel for cooking.

Budget deficit

It is a painful ritual the country has to go through every election year. The dust on the 2012 election has barely settled and the government is known to have overrun its budget. Provisional figures show a government budget deficit of 12.1 percent of GDP, which is over 80 percent of the target of 6.7 percent of GDP. This has led to downgrades of the country's credit outlook by ratings agencies Fitch and Moody's.

Fellow Ghanaians, as hard working and law abiding citizens, we deserve better than these and we must demand higher quality leadership from people at the helm of affairs in our great country.

The police

The Ghana Police Service, which has the constitutional mandate to check crime, has sadly become part of the problem. Bribery is rife among Police officers and the service is so slow to respond to alarms on crime, situations that seem to have emboldened criminals who have become brazen in their approach, attacking and robbing citizens at will. Speak to most victims of crime in this country and they will tell you horrible tales of their experiences when they called on the Ghana Police to report their ordeals. Most leave the stations feeling like they are the criminals. Our police men and women show little empathy for victims of crime, especially victims of domestic and sexual violence, even though a special unit in the service has been created to deal with such matters.

Education and Health

Fellow citizens, Ghana's education system used to be among the best in the world. Sometime ago, the Queen of England was reported to have wanted her son, Prince Charles to come and study at the University of Ghana, but the University couldn't admit him because of the demands for his accommodation and security issues. He requested to use an entire floor.

In those days, graduates of even our basic education system were sufficiently and effectively well educated and functional, but that can't be said of most of the products of the system today. Products of our education system have virtually no ethics, always looking to cut corners and make quick bucks.

Education facilities have become inadequate, either as a result of poor planning or mismanagement. The morale of teachers is generally low.

A UNESCO report on education shows that comparing Ghana to South Korea, the country’s education sector has stagnated.

In a summary, the report says “‘Whilst both countries had a similar starting point in the early 1970s Ghana has lagged behind since then. The Republic of Korea began to expand its secondary system rapidly in the 1970s, but in Ghana the secondary education gross enrolment ratio stagnated at around 40% for another thirty years.”

The report attributing Ghana’s lack of progress in education as partly due to the result of economic problems, said it was also because of insufficient investment in education or linking of economic planning with skills development policies.

The same report shows that a large population in Ghana can’t read a sentence after leaving school as recently as in 2008.

“In Ghana, for example, over half of women and over one-third of men aged 15 to 29 who had completed six years of school could not read a sentence at all in 2008. A further 28% of the young women and 33% of the young men could only read part of a sentence,” it says.

Our health facilities have been left to crumble. Most medical facilities do not have basic equipment to work with, and even though the country spends millions of dollars in training medical professionals, most are often not motivated enough to stay in the country to work.

The health insurance scheme introduced in the country and hailed across the world is likely to grind to a halt, riddled with mismanagement and corruption it is faced with possible bankruptcy, a World Bank report has warned.

Fellow Ghanaians, I can go on and on to talk about nepotism, cronyism, the inability of the state to confront public sector corruption head-on, the poor performance of state prosecutors in trying cases of fraud against the state, the financial mismanagement and waste in the system, the indiscipline in the army as expressed in soldiers attacking and assaulting police officers, the carnage on our roads.

Having mentioned that, the Road Safety Commission, has sometime ago announced a beauty pageant in response to the increasing road traffic accidents in the country. The Commission believes that a beauty pageant can help reduce road traffic accidents in Ghana.

More than 1,800 people die annually while 14,500 people are injured through accidents on the country’s roads. The socio-economic costs of road accidents are estimated at 1.6 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the Commission believes that a beauty pageant will offer solutions.

Partisanship

Another canker dissipating our energies and resources is the hydra-headed beast called partisanship. Ghana is so partisan that the President during a meeting with Ghanaians resident in Ethiopia in January 2012 mentioned the issue which is a major challenge to our moving forward. Most people are given important public sector positions not because they are competent, but because they are political party members and the party they belong to is in power.

People belonging to opposing parties are not expected to make their views known on national issues.
Supporters of ruling parties praise everything governments do, whether it serves us well or not. They see nothing wrong with their governments and see everything wrong with the opposition and it is the same with the opposite side. This conduct is our bane.

Conclusion

Fellow Ghanaians, I would not want to say anything further, as you are all probably aware of the shameful condition our dear country is in.

Patriotism is dead. Killed by our leaders. As we look at our leaders, we do not see patriotism, we see partisanship and pursuit of selfish and personal gain, as such citizens are compelled to emulate these - conducts that are further sinking, holding back our collective development.

But hope is not lost yet. Like the proverbial phoenix, we can rise again from the ashes, only if we so desire, by changing our ways, by letting our laws and institutions work, by paying our dues to the Motherland.

God bless our homeland Ghana.

Thank you.

What you must know about e-waste in Ghana

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

The dangers that electronics waste, or e-waste poses to Ghana’s environment and human health are real. It is clear and present danger that we ignore to our own peril.

I raised the red flag with a version of this article which was published in the Daily Graphic issue of June 5, 2007, drawing attention to the looming health and environmental dangers of e-waste to Ghana.
Incidentally, it was the very first article to be written on the subject in the Ghanaian media.

After that I wrote another version for the internet and titled it: ‘E-waste is killing Ghanaians slowly.’ And following my article, a US TV station CBS5 sent down award winning journalist Dana King to do a story on e-waste in Ghana. Chris Carroll also came down to Ghana to do a story on the problem for the National Geographic.

And then on Friday April 10, 2008, Mike Anane an environmental and e-waste campaigner held a press conference to alert the nation over the dangers of e-waste that the country is faced with.

I will however, be surprised if anything dramatic is done to address the problem. I am not being pessimistic, I am just stating the fact! This is Ghana. The Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA), does not seem to have a clue about the problem or they are simply incapable of handling it or they just don’t care. And I know because I have talked with them extensively about the problem and got nothing out of them. They simply told me as they do in all cases in this country until something terrible happens that they are still drafting the policy.

Thankfully, as at the time I am rewriting this piece as the introductory article for my blog, so much has happened. The Greenpeace came to Ghana and did a study on the problem. The findings of the study was starling, as soil and water samples that they took from the scrap yard in Agbogbloshie where broken down electronics equipment are dismantled and valuable cables burnt to extract copper wires revealed toxic contents over 100 times more than world allowable standards.

There is presently no direct evidence to show that e-waste related diseases are increasing in Ghana, because no such study has been done, but the scientific evidences made available by the Greenpeace is enough cause for worry. Given the presence of such high levels of toxic chemicals in the environment, it is possible that e-waste could be a large contributing factor to some illnesses in Ghana.

Indeed, following my articles, and pressure from some campaigners and the Greenpeace report, the issue of e-waste is now attracting some concern in Ghana but not so much is being done about it.
The EPA has come out to say they are going to start a campaign on the problem. And Ghana’s Minister of Local Government and Environment, Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, raised the issue during the recent UN Climate Change meeting in Accra, Ghana.

This is reassuring; especially when looked at in the background of growing concerns about e-waste or computer wastes around the world, particularly in developed countries.
This development also is an indication that in Ghana the issue of e-waste is catching on.

What is e-waste?

E-waste is the generic name for electronic or computer wastes. These are discarded electronics devices that come into the waste stream from several sources.

They include gadgets like televisions, personal computers (PCs), telephones, air conditioners, cell phones, and electronic toys.

The list can further be widened to include appliances such as lifts, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, kitchen equipment or even aeroplanes.

The problems posed by e-waste are becoming more challenging, because the increase in the quantity of e-waste in the system is largely due to the speed of technological advancement and innovation coupled by a high obsolete rate. And because of the very critical role of technology in social and economic development, the issue of e-waste has become a complicated one.

Countries of the world are racing against each other in developing new technology, but technological advancement comes at some costs.

Indeed, no nation can develop without technological know-how and expertise. And some of the costs technology leaves in its trail include e-wastes and associated consequences.

These consequences reverberate in potential environmental as well as health hazards that put the globe at risk.

Among industrial waste campaigners the world over, electronics equipment is one of the largest known sources of heavy metals, toxic materials and organic pollutants in city waste.

Due to the speed at which technology is changing, people change their electronic equipment within short periods.

In the US alone, an estimated 30 million computers are thrown out every year. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of this number, only 14% are recycled.

Available records show that by the end of 2004, over 314 million computers were obsolete and by the year 2007 the cumulative number of obsolete computers in the US is expected to rise to 500 million.

Due to this rapid advancement, the average life-span of computers has shrunk to less than two years. For most people, the lure of new technology is so strong that, they would rather buy a new computer than upgrade an old one, and those PCs that can not be upgraded add up to the waste pile.

Another estimate suggests that by 2010, 100 million cell phones and 300 million PCs will end up on the dumping site.

Sadly, because accurate statistics are often hard to obtain in Ghana and in most cases figures do not exist, estimates of PCs in Ghana are not readily available.

But there are now emerging evidences that Ghana has become a dumping ground for discarded electronics goods.

Moreover, the rate at which electronic gadgets become obsolete in Ghana is not known, taking into account the fact that a good number of PCs and other electronics gadgets that are imported into the country are already old.

E-waste contains dangerous chemicals

E-waste is known to contain dangerous chemical pollutants that are released into the atmosphere and underground water.

The modes of disposal, which include dumping old gadgets into landfills or burning in smelters, also expose the environment and humans to a cocktail of toxic chemicals and poison.

These chemicals contain substances like lead, mercury and arsenic.

The cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in most computer monitors and television screens have x-ray shields that contain 4 to 8 pounds of lead, mostly embedded in glass.

Flat screen monitors that are mostly used in laptops do not contain high concentrations of lead, but most are illuminated with fluorescent lights that contain some mercury.

A PC’s central processing unit (CPU), the module containing the chip and the hard disk, typically contains toxic heavy metals such as mercury (in switches), lead (in solder on circuit boards), and cadmium (in batteries).

Plastics used to house computer equipment and cover wire cables to prevent flammability often contain polybrominated flame retardants, a class of dangerous chemicals. Studies have shown that ingesting these substances may increase the risk of cancer, liver damage, and immune system dysfunction.

Lead, mercury, cadmium, and polybrominated flame retardants are all persistent, bio-accumulative toxins (PBTs), that can create environmental and health risks when computers are manufactured, incinerated, landfilled or melted during recycling. PBTs, in particular are a dangerous class of chemicals that linger in the environment and accumulate in living tissues.

And because they increase in concentration as they move up the food chain, PBTs can reach dangerous levels in living organisms, even when released in minute quantities. PBTs are harmful to human health and the environment and have been associated with cancer, nerve damage and reproductive disorders.

Looked at individually, the chemicals contained in e-waste are a cocktail of dangerous pollutants that kill both the environment and humans slowly.

Lead, which negative effects were recognized and therefore banned from gasoline in the 1970s causes damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, blood systems, kidney and the reproductive system in humans.

Effects of lead on the endocrine system have been observed, including the serious negative effects it has on children’s brain development. When it accumulates in the environment, it has high acute and chronic effects on plants, animals and micro-organisms.

Cadmium compounds are also toxic with a possible risk of irreversible effects on human health and accumulate in the human body, particularly the kidneys. Cadmium occurs in certain components such as SMD chip resistors, infra-red detectors, and semi-conductor chips.

Mercury on the other hand, can cause damage to various organs including the brain and kidneys as well as the fetus. More especially, the developing fetus is highly susceptible through maternal exposure to mercury.

These are only few of the chemicals used in the manufacture of electronics equipment. Other chemicals are Hexavalent Chromium which is used as a corrosion protection of untreated and galvanized steel plates and as a decorative or hardener for steel housings. Plastics including, PVC are also used. Plastics constitute about 13.8 pounds of an average computer.

The largest volume of plastics, 26% used in electronics is PVC. When PVC is burned, dioxin can be formed because it contains chlorine compounds. Barium, is a soft silvery-white metal that is used in computers in the front panel of a CRT, to protect users from radiation.

Studies have shown that short-term exposure to barium has caused brain swelling, muscle weakness, damage to the liver, heart and spleen.

Considering the health hazards of e-waste, another ubiquitous computer peripheral scrap worth mentioning is toners. The main ingredient of the black toner is a pigment commonly called, carbon black – the general term used to describe the commercial powder form of carbon.

Inhalation is the primary means of exposure, and acute exposure may lead to respiratory tract irritation.

The country’s EPA is poorly resourced and not motivated enough to do its job of monitoring Ghana’s environment.

Besides, Ghana’s health institutions, apart from facing acute shortage of qualified health professionals, lack the equipment required to handle known and possible side effects of e-waste.

At the Agbogbloshie scrap yard in Accra, some people buy these discarded electronics equipment and use some of the parts to fix faulty equipment, but what happens to the other unwanted parts is anyone’s guess. On a heap inside the market, scrap dealers, including children burn these discarded items, under unhygienic and unsafe circumstances to extract the copper wires for sale, further endangering their health and the environment.

In the absence of any clear policy on e-waste in Ghana, the situation in the country becomes grim.

What is even more surprising is that, in spite of the currency of environmental issues in today’s globalized world, which has lead to the formation of political parties with ideological leanings that seek to pursue environmental issues in some countries, in Ghana, politicians hardly raise environmental issues in their campaign for political power.

It is high time we as a country looked seriously at the growing trend in e-waste and take a decisive step to deal with the problem, before we are slowly, but surely submerged in this cocktail of poisonous chemicals which can only mean disaster which is sure to come.

Environmental campaigners believe that a good heap of the e-waste discarded in developed countries land in developing countries including Ghana, further exposing our people to health hazards we are hardly prepared to handle.