Happy Mothers Day

Once again we are celebrating Mothers Day and it seems many mothers are just not being appreciated for the good and hard work they have done and continue to do to keep us on our toes and make us better human beings as we grow up. But come to think of it, we still have children who are being deceived into thinking that their mothers are witches and treat them badly. Those people should just be ashamed of themselves and repent from that attitude and behavior.

We still have mothers whose children have deserted or abandoned them due to certain advices being given to their children by friends. We still have mothers who after taking care of their children to some level are still struggling to make ends meet, but yet still they go the extra mile to provide for their children. They sacrifice  their time, sleep, food and sometimes loose their lives all because of their children. We still have mothers who are being abused by their husbands and are afraid to come out and make these abuses known to the world. They sometimes keep quiet because of the children.

We still have mothers who are looked down on by their children because of their educational level. Some children do that and deny their mothers right in the midst of their friends and also in public. No matter the level of education and status in society, every mother deserves to be appreciated and cherished.

Some men too can be called mothers since they perform the duties of a mother when the mothers are not around or in times that the mother of the house is sick or tired and also some men willingly take it upon themselves to help their wives in the day to day upkeep of the children in terms of bathing them, feeding, changing diapers etc etc. God bless all mothers and i wish all mothers all over the world a Happy Mothers Day.

 

The Joys of Childhood

   Imagine a world where children are not allowed to  play and show case their God given talents. Such a world would be a very boring and sad place. Children learn through play and thats how they are made to enjoy childhood. Children must be made to feel happy and make very good use of that stage that they are in because once they progress from the childhood stage to adolescence and onward to the teenage stage, all signs of childish behaviours are done away with. Maturity sets in and they sometimes behave like adults and are even included in the decision making process in their various homes.

But we all agree that not all children in Ghana and many parts of the world enjoy their childhood, thus they are deprived of the joys of childhood in their various homes. Many of these children are always indoors and prevented by their parents from going out to play with their friends, attending programs and events organized for children and also their movements are restricted. Such children grow up very timid and are sometimes unable to surmount simple problems or situations that come their way.

Children must be allowed to play with their friends, be very courageous and must also be taught how to behave in public and at social gatherings. Thus, when they grow up they also would have nostalgic memories of their childhood days and have something to laugh about and share their experiences with their friends.

The picture above depicts how happy these two children are as they play with their bicycle which i would call a METALCYCLE because it has no tyres but just metal wheels and the look on their faces says it all. Make children happy and they would always come closer to you as they enjoy their moments. They learn a lot through play both in the home and at school.

Poverty In The Midst Of Plenty

We always sing our National Anthem with so much pride any time our Black Stars (National Football Team) or any of the Junior National Teams are involved in a tournament. “God Bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong…” We all know what the rest of the words are.  God has already blessed our homeland Ghana with so many riches, but i keep asking myself, why is there so much poverty in the midst of plenty?

We have mineral resources such as gold, diamond, manganese, bauxite, timber, cocoa and quiet recently the discovery and exploration of Ghana’s oil resources which has yielded huge volumes of oil and gas for our blessed country. But i cringe when i see the level of poverty in my dear country despite all these blessings from God. Is it that our leaders have failed us or they simply don’t know how to run the affairs of the country?

Why cant we add value to our natural resources but would rather take delight in exporting the raw materials to the western world and also be content with we being touted as “the largest or biggest exporter” of these raw materials? Currently our educational system is facing so many challenges and it seems the political games are being applied to this very important sector of Ghana’s development agenda.

Why do we keep on borrowing huge sums of money from foreign  financial institutions whenever we need funds for major projects? I some times have this opinion that those at the helm of affairs do not think about those who voted them into power. How much would it cost to build a hospital or a health center in a rural area, not to talk about the building of better educational facilities and the provision of good drinking water? What about those bad roads that lead to the food producing areas? No one seems to care about the poor farmer who goes to his farm every day just to make sure his crops produce better yields only to face a problem of not being able to transport his food produce to the market center at the end of the day.

So, my question is, why are we still poor if God has really and indeed blessed Ghana our homeland? Did i read some where that very soon Ghana would be importing water from Dubai? I hope this is just one of the jokes we create in Ghana. To continue with the National Anthem… And make our nation great and strong…”Your comments are welcome.

 

Let Us Protect The Children

Once again the deaths of two children who went to play in their father’s parked car was reported by the various Ghanaian media houses. These children died through suffocation when they got trapped in the car whiles their father was having a family meeting in the house. This tragic incident happened on the 11th January, 2014 at a suburb of Accra known as Asofa. 

Anytime i hear such news involving children, my heart bleeds. There are so many safety measures that should be done to protect our children from harm, but it seems parents and guardians have failed woefully in this aspect of parenting. Why place a bottle of kerosene or dangerous chemical at a place in the house where the child can easily mistake it for water or any drinkable liquid? Some parents leave knives, blades and other sharp implements in the open where children easily get access to them and eventually hurt themselves. Some children are also left alone to go to school on their own without the supervision of their parents or guardians. The unexpected happens when they try crossing the road and it brings a lot of grief and sorrow to the family.  Why would a parent be driving and his child be standing in the car? I see that everyday and the police also fail to point it out to them. Poisonous substances should not be left in the open for children to get access to. I think, there is no education on child safety in Ghana. All the past governments have failed in this aspect. It is high time a policy framework specifically modeled on child safety be advocated for.

Laws should be enacted to protect our children from harm or death caused by the negligence of their parents or guardians.  We should try our very best as a country to protect the children, since they are the future leaders. May the souls of all children who have died due to the negligence of their parents or guardians rest in the bosom of God Almighty. These are just the thoughts of a concerned citizen who is so passionate about children. Your comments are welcome. God bless all children and their responsible parents and guardians.

 

Make Someone Happy This Christmas

Once again the Good Lord Almighty has taken good care of us for the past eleven months and we are in the last month of the year. Those of us who have been very fortunate to be alive must be grateful and thankful to the Almighty God for His mercies throughout the year. 2014 beckons us and my question is what will you do to put smiles on the faces of the less privileged in our communities?

There will be many charity events going on through out the country and i will suggest that you involve yourself in any one of them nearer to your community.  Putting a smile on someone’s face is not necessarily about giving money but even the little time you spend with the less fortunate in your community goes a long way to make these people very happy and it sometimes gives them the hope that someone cares and thinks about them.

You can also help with these charity events by donating clothes, shoes and other household items that will be badly needed for the upkeep of the less fortunate in our society.  So, i will urge all of us to do something in our own small ways to make someone happy this Christmas season. God Almighty will be proud of you as you continue to do His work on earth. God bless you all and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance.

 

Justice Swerved (Served) In Ghana

Ama (not her real name) is a nine year old girl and lives in the same community with most of his friends. In her community you come across all manner and types of characters parading around. On that fateful day, Ama was supposed to be in school, but due to an illness that was plaguing her she had to stay home.

The moment Ama’s mom left for the market to purchase some food items, Kwadwo (not his real name), called Ama to send her on an errand. He took this opportunity to defile the nine year old girl upon her return when she entered his room to deliver the items. To further scare the little girl, Kwadwo told her not to tell any one about what happened otherwise she would die.

Ama went back to her house and did not inform the mom when she returned from the market. But that evening, her mom noticed some changes in her walking. Upon interrogation and further probing Ama told her the truth. A report was quickly made at the nearest police station and Kwadwo was arrested. In his caution statement, Kwadwo admitted the offence but said he did it with the consent of the little girl. Now here comes the tricky part. He had to be processed for court. 

Ama’s parents notice some attempts being made by the crime officer and the relatives of the accused just to make sure that the case does not see the light of day. As we all know, Kwadwo’s family is very rich and very influential in the community so they try as much as possible to make the case a “foolish case”. Your guess is as good as mine, justice is not served but swerved. The rest is left for posterity to judge.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on how justice is being swerved in Ghana. There are numerous  similar cases where families have been left grieving as a result of the machinations of some few bad nuts within the justice system and our society. Why should the wheels of justice grind so slowly in such an urgent  matter. The lives of many children have been put at risk due to these condoning and conniving tactics to swerve the justice system in Ghana. No wonder the majority of the people have lost interest, credibility and trust in our judicial service and the police service.

The earlier we corrected this anomaly the better, for it will come back to haunt us and the generations yet unborn will not forgive us for just sitting down and allowing the rot in these places to continue. These are just the thoughts of an ordinary citizen of Mother Ghana, God bless Ghana my homeland.

Senior High School Admission Blues

Every parent in Ghana will love to see his or her child to be admitted into any of the well endowed senior high schools in Ghana right after their completion of the junior high school education.  But this does not come easy as the child has to pass his or her Basic Education Certificate Examinations with distinction. The choice of schools also sometimes becomes a headache as most of the parents will like to choose good schools in the urban centers for their children and we all know that not all those who pass well will be able to gain admission into these so called well endowed schools.

Formerly the selection of students into the senior high schools used to be done manually with the headmasters and headmistresses having a field day as they used their discretion in the selection process. Then came the computer placement system which was meant to do away with the corruption in the selection process, but after some years of its implementation, it seems that problem has not been well tackled.

Once again, it is time for the  admission of students into the senior high schools and the system is fraught with so many anomalies. Parents are just moving from school to school just to make sure that their children are given admission once they have been selected by the computer placement system for those schools. Some parents have to compromise their principles by paying something extra just to guarantee the admission of their children into some of the senior high schools. We all know that this is the “Cocoa Season” of some of the headmasters and headmistresses. Parents are also being made to pay more than the government approved fees in most of the schools.  Moreover, some parents have to feign sickness at their workplaces so as to get the opportunity to go round making sure that their children get their desired schools.

What is the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service doing to correct all these anomalies at this level of Ghana’s educational sector? It is time   our educational authorities put in place measures to reduce ( if not totally solved) the problems associated with the selection process into the senior high schools. God bless Ghana my Motherland.

 

 

 

Child Safety In Ghana

Children are precious and special gifts from the Almighty Father and it seems we on this earth and in our dear country Ghana have neglected the responsibilities naturally entrusted to us. I move around and i realize that most children in Ghana are seriously at risk of getting injured or perishing from certain simple safety  loopholes that have been left unattended to. I see most people who drive with their children sitting in the front passenger seats of their cars without wearing seat belts or sitting at the back with no baby seat to secure themselves in the event of a collision with another vehicle. Unfortunately our law enforcement agencies also look on whiles these basic safety measures are flouted with impunity. You also find some drivers with their children on their laps whiles driving. This is a very bad practice and must be stopped. It puts the child’s life at risk. In some households several bottles of dangerous liquids are left at places where children mistake them for water and they ingest them and most of these children if help is not given to them immediately would die and some are left to battle with life threatening complications for the rest of their lives. Examples of such liquids are bottles of kerosene, liquid detergents and other types of industrial chemicals. If you care about the safety of children you will put all these chemicals at secured places in the house. Children also like playing a lot and when they enter the kitchen and find knives or other sharp implements lying around, they tend to pick them up and in the process cut themselves.  Our numerous construction sites dotted all over the country also have open pits with stagnant water and quiet recently our media have been awash with children drowning in these open pits.  The safety issues concerning our children are numerous and if i want to continue writing i would not finish. I hope to hear from you through your comments and suggestions on this particular post. Lets all do our best to ensure the safety of every child we see or we come into contact with. Lets all remember that we were all children at a stage in our lives. Just reflect on this post and think about how you were able to get to this stage as an adult. Would you have gotten this far if someone had not ensured your safety when you were a child. God bless us all.

The Verdict

Once again Ghanaians have shown to the whole world that the black man is capable of managing his own affairs. Most of the international media predicted doom and gloom for the country Ghana due to the impending Supreme Court verdict that was due on the 29th August, 2013. Certain diplomatic outfits even advised their citizens advised their citizens to be careful how they move about on this particular day in the country for they thought pockets of violence would emerge in certain parts of the country especially the capital city, Accra and also in the major towns. The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been challenging the validity of the December 7 and 8 elections that saw the candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama elected at the Supreme Court for the past eight months. All this was brought to an end with the Justices of the Supreme Court dismissing the petitioners challenge.  The whole world was just watching if Ghana would pass this test, but it happened with such alacrity that before one could say ‘jack’ the final judgement was pronounced and many people were dumb founded as to the meaning of what happened in the court room. As it began to sink in well with both the petitioners and respondents, the die was cast and there was no turning back. Both parties in this election dispute pledged to accept the verdict and make sure the nation suffered no violence. Peace prevailed and in the end Ghana emerged victorious as she came out unscathed. This final judgement affirmed the validity of the President elect, John Dramani Mahama. But once again, because there was no violence, the international media’s attention was not focused on the good example that was happening in Ghana.  Ghana is indeed a beacon of democracy in West Africa and Africa as a whole. Our institutions are gradually passing the test of time and this should send a clear message to the world that the African has truly come of age. Ghanaians would respect and accept this verdict and make sure Ghana continues to chart a good course in their democratic journey. God bless Ghana and God bless Africa. 

Let There Be Peace In Ghana

Once again Ghanaians have shown to the whole world that it is better to resort to the rule of law to resolve disputes rather than through violent means. This was as a result of the Election Petition Case before the Supreme Court of the country. This has shown how democracy is gradually gaining grounds in the country and i hope other African countries are learning some lessons from what just happened in Ghana. Currently the Justices of the Supreme Court are yet to come out with their ruling on the Election Petition. As they take their time to come out with a ruling that will not jeopadize the nation’s fledgling democratic dispensation, Ghanaians have been asked to accept the ruling of the Justices of the Supreme Court. The National Peace Council and the two political parties involved in the dispute have all taken it upon themselves to educate their followers not to resort to violence when the final ruling comes out.  The security agencies have also been put on alert to curb any form of violence that will arise as a result of the final ruling. I believe and hope that Ghanaians as peaceful as they are will accept the final ruling on the Election Petition and not plunge the nation into chaos and destruction. Lets all not forget that Ghana is bigger than any political party and any individual’s interest.  Lets all do our best to ensure that the peace that we have enjoyed in this country is sustained and strengthened. We have only one Ghana and there is no place like home. God bless Ghana my homeland and make her great and strong.