GHANA COMMENTARIES, by Anna Esi Hanson

In most cities worldwide, authorities are finding ways and means of combating the occurrence of diseases  especially among  children. Various policies have therefore been drafted and implemented in order to curb the incidence of diseases especially sanitation related, since these are preventable. Since children are the most vulnerable, efforts have being heightened to speed up the process of disease prevention especially in our schools hence the school hygiene and sanitation campaigns by several national and multinational governmental, educational and health-related institutions. In Ghana, the same efforts are being put in place to combat sanitation related diseases. For some reason, all attention has been drawn to waste disposal and treatment since it is a major and visible cause of diseases. In this country, there is however one possible cause and a major threat which has escaped the attention or focus of our sanitation officers and although several people have often notice

People create jobs in order to apply their knowledge and skills for the betterment of society. People also seek employment in order to make a decent living in taking care of themselves and their families. Collectively, employment serves as a public good rather than a private good. In all this, we can tell that there are varied reasons for which people work. For some, it is for the experience and for others, it is for the money. Some people also just take delight in working and hence, their motivation is just in the pleasure of working. According to the Abraham Maslow theory of needs, job satisfaction or dissatisfaction is as a result of financial rewards and the conditions at work. Hence for someone, if the pay is good but the conditions at work is bad, there is no satisfaction and hence productivity is low. Others also have complete disregard for the conditions at work as long as the pay is good. The conditions at work in this case refer to the logistics provided or available th

Sometime last year, I almost lost an acquaintance in a motorbike accident. This was in the Upper West Region. A couple of days later, I called an aunt working in Wa to make an enquiry on the progress being made in her school. Upon enquiring about the wellbeing of the schoolbus driver, the reply was; ‘he’s dead.’ When I asked of how he died, it was by a motor bicycle. This year, I took a trip to Wa to visit the school and exactly the next morning, we were greeted with the sad news of the death of the father of one of the little children. Apparently He died in a motor accident the previous evening. This was someone who had personally picked up his child from school the previous day. When I visited the school, some furniture was needed so I inquired about the school carpenter, a very promising young man in his late twenties, only to be told of his passing through a motor accident. Whiles going through the school album, two male parents were indicated as deceased. As usual, motor bi

I cannot quite remember the exact time and date when construction of the western region’s cultural center began but I can recall that even in my senior secondary school days, the structure was still under construction. That was about seven years ago and clearly considering the stage at which the structure was in, it might have started a couple of years before that. From the little information I gathered, that would be about ten years and even beyond. Yes, the structure has been under construction for about ten years and up till date, has not been fully completed. In Ghana, we have a culture of abandonment when it comes to the construction of state-owned and funded structures. When governments commence work on the construction of various structures and are unable to complete during their tenure of office, that becomes the end of that story. The structure sits there for years notwithstanding the stage of construction. Several structures and projects have been abandoned with some

For most young people within the country, unemployment has become the bane in their lives. The sole aim of education as the key to employment and job creation has only become a mirage. This is the sad reality of our times. In the wake of this new reality, some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of this and are using it to their selfish advantage. These days, the worse kinds of crimes are being committed in our formal institutions within the corridors of the so-called legitimate businesses by the so-called honourable people. A visit to several institutions both private and public would reveal that bribery and corruption is now the requisite skill required by applicants in the pursuit and securing of jobs. On the panels usually set up for various job interviews, a number of applicants have been asked shamelessly to pay bribes to these panelists to secure their chances of gaining employment and in some cases, to gain employment. Some unfortunate applicants upon payment of these

The pride of a nation is not only in her people but in her way of life; her culture! This culture can only be defined through her dressing, her language, her food, and her beliefs, among others. Like all nations, this pride is also exhibited in the form of some national totems. Ghana like all nations has her national flag, the national emblem in the form of the Coat of Arms. Although we have several languages, English has been adopted as the formal national language as a result of our colonization by the British, in order to make communication especially internationally, easy. Also like all nations, Ghana has her own currency, the cedi and this is what is used locally for various transactions. Hence for all types of trading, the Ghanaian cedi is the form of exchange be it the exchange of goods or the exchange of services. In recent times however, and rather increasing at an alarming rate, the cedi is being substituted for the dollar. Although other currencies like the pound st

Over the years and rather increasingly, people have been advised to take up entrepreneurship as an alternative source of employment. This is primarily as a result of the unavailability of jobs. Also with the rapid increase in population accompanied by widening markets, there has been an increase in demand for goods and services. The existing structures are therefore unable to meet the increasing demands and hence loop-holes in the system. In schools, as part of the educational reform programmes, students have been taught to be self-reliant and to take a more practical approach to whatever knowledge they acquire. Consequently, entrepreneurial programmes have been introduced as part of the course work for students especially in our tertiary institutions to enable them create employment for themselves after school. Even in the non-formal environment, entrepreneurial ventures are at the maximum in the areas of food production, livestock rearing, trading, among others. Entrepreneurship