YESTERDAY our editorial asked the question: How prepared are we for the rains? Our reason for asking that question is based on the fact that the rainy season comes and goes yet we are where we are. We have not found a lasting solution to the floods that normally accompany the rainy season and the havoc it wreaks on Ghanaians particularly in the capital city.

WE still have in Accra buildings sitting on waterways with no affirmative action taken by the city authorities. Nothing has been done to the drainage system in flood-prone areas including Alajo, Asylum Down, New Town, Kwame Nkrumah Circle and many others. We are waiting for lives to be lost and properties to be destroyed on a larger scale before we act. We know the problem but finding an antidote to it has become a big headache for our city authorities. Why?

WE all saw the kind of damage that last Saturday’s heavy windstorm, accompanied by torrential rains, did to people’s properties and houses. In Accra, in particular, reports indicated that trees fell from the windstorm with some billboards falling. There are even reports to the effect that a few residents in the capital lost their lives.

THE frightening windstorm that hit the southern part of Ghana should inform us that we need to brace ourselves up for the worst. That also means putting in place effective measures to minimize the impact of any torrential rain in this raining season. If for nothing at all last Saturday’s storm has given as an inkling of what we should expect this rainy season!

HOWEVER, it is refreshing to learn that the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited have put in place measures to reduce the impact of any disaster during the rainy season.

AND these measures, we are told, include the acquisition of excavators, haulage trucks, and water pumping machines, chainsaw machines and towing machines. These machines, according to the two bodies (Zoomlion and NADMO), will assist in rescue operations in the event of a disaster in the rainy season.

AND to show the seriousness Zoomlion and NADMO attach to the exercise we are told again that teams have been deployed by the two organisations to desilt choked drains in the Accra metropolis. The essence of this is to reduce major flooding during the coming rainy season.

WE on Today therefore seize the opportunity to laud NADMO and Zoomlion in their preemptive steps to minimise the impact of any disaster during the rains. These are things we must do to avert calamities that can be prevented or reduced; and one of such is the impact of floods which we all know recur every rainy season.

WHILE commending the steps taken by Zoomlion and NADMO to mitigate any calamity during this rainy season, we urge corporate organisations, non-governmental organisations (NDOs) and civil society organisations to support in every possible way to make this venture worthwhile.   

IN the capital, some trees fell from the impact of ravaging storm, while giant billboards tumbled on roads, thus resulting in serious traffic congestion in some parts of the metropolis. The situation was not different in the Central Regional capital of Cape Coast where a falling tree which destroyed two shops and rails also killed a mother and her son.

WHILE a number of buildings had their roofs ripped off, an 85-year-old woman, Hajia Lade Mohammed, escaped death by the skin of the teeth when an Indian almond tree under which she sat fell on a wooden classroom of a school near her house. Falling trees and billboards also blocked major roads in the capital.

AS usual, city authorities have been quick to blame the disaster on the indiscriminate erection of billboards without recourse to the law and the unbridled siting of buildings on waterways. They contend the effect of the disaster would have been less in the absence of these indiscriminate artifacts.

DESPITE city authorities knowledge of the antidote to such misgivings, they have sat unconcerned and watched as these billboards and the buildings were developed gradually and the usual “Stop Work, produce permit” signs painted in red written on them.

Their successful completion and subsequent occupation (in the case of the buildings) suggest how city authorities caused financial loss to the state through the use of oil paints which were purchased at the expense of the tax payer.

AND citizens who took it upon themselves to report of the danger they pose to pedestrians have either been rebuked or had their calls falling on deaf ears. A radio presenter in Accra, Kwami Sefa Kayi, who constantly complained about the danger a giant billboard positioned on the Spintex Road in Accra posed, stopped doing so when he was accused of being only concerned “about streetlights and billboards” while there are serious issues to deal with.

FOR how long will city authorities continue to remain impotent and leave innocent citizens sitting on tender hooks? Their incapacity is choking the ordinary tax payer who cannot fathom why they continually fail to enforce the law to the latter but watched unconcerned as companies and private developers take the law into their own hands.

IF a lack of political will as has been the common problem in Africa is the reason behind their non-performance, then political appointees must not be at the head of the local government structure.  Private Citizens must be voted to head these institutions which are constantly failing inhabitants of their areas because of the influence of partisan politics.

LIKEWISE, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) must be granted more independence and detached from the direct control of the Ministry of Interior where it solicits funds to mange disasters. Today is of the opinion that it should be made autonomous and given full ministerial status if possible to better manage disasters in the country.

THE Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has for the third time cited the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and some of its operatives as the guiltiest in the use of indecent language on radio.

THE report released last Thursday and covering media monitoring between April 29 and May 5 places the ruling NDC second to the NPP when it came to the use of indecent language.

THIS however followed a previous report which also cited the ruling National Democratic Congress as topping the list of political parties which used indecent and intemperate language during the preceding week.

THE publication, Today understands, is designed to name and shame political parties and their operatives who use insulting language in public discussions.

IT is worth commenting that despite widespread calls for a complete halt on the use of intemperate language the so-called big parties (NDC & NPP) who were expected to lead the way are rather challenging each other in an intemperate race.

MORE worrying is the fact that most of these culprits are leading members of the accused parties who arguably should know better.

SO there lays the question: Who educates the grassroots supporters who are rather thought to be the most users of intemperate language?

WILL these political capos then have the moral right to tell their followers to put a stop to the use of these abusive languages we ask?

MEANWHILE, the General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, who was named in the report, instead of eating humble pie rather rubbished its content stressing that his comments have been taken out of context.

FOR crying out loud, an intemperate or abusive comment is what it is; whether said in a friendly manner or an aggressive manner.

TODAY commends MFWA for embarking on this project which involves monitoring specific programmes on 31 selected radio stations, and exposing politicians and activists who use indecent expressions as well as naming the radio stations on which such expressions are made.

WE believe that this is significantly and comparatively bringing down the level of hate speech on our airwaves.

FOR the first time in a long while, issue-based campaigns are being spearheaded on most airwaves in the country.

IF the trend continues to spiral down, we believe the proper and conducive environment would be created for peaceful elections come December.

RESPONDING to the allegations, John Mahama stated that the allegation is untrue and to provide justification that the Mills administration does not interfere, he cited what, in the opinion of Today newspaper, is a very odd instance.

THE vice president said since it came into office, the Mills administration has lost 13 cases in court.  He then argued that that is clear indication that the Mills administration (including him) is not one to meddle in matters that should and does not concern it.

FIRST of all, we on Today are still looking for the connection between the allegations of interference in chieftaincy matters and losing cases in court.  Of course, we are aware of the implication in the vice president’s statement that the Mills administration has not interfered in the 13 cases when these went to court and that is why it lost them.

TO begin with, we find odd the unfortunate implication that a national administration, if it would win cases in court, must interfere with the court and in its processes.   But the fundamental factor in losing or winning cases in court is more a feature of the competence and independence of the Judiciary more than in the ability of any entity, including national administration, to interfere in cases and/or influence judges to rule against the principles of Law.

WE cannot, but state that this is another classic instance of NDC propaganda, in this case with something they should be ashamed of.  For while the vice president is trying to take crass credit in non-interference with our judicial process, the Mills administration has lost 13 cases actually because the Judiciary of the Republic of Ghana now has the courage to be independent.

WHAT we on Today are stating, in fact, is that even if the Mills administration, or specifically the vice president, had tried to interfere, the judges, who are really living up to their constitutional creed of independence, would not have budged and the Mills administration would still have lost those cases.

COME to think of it: How can you bring a bad case to court and expect to win, Mr. Vice President?  And then when as expected you lose, how can you go out and claim you lost because you did not interfere with the courts, eh?  How can a man with such mentality be a vice president of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana?

IT is therefore the candid opinion of Today that the vice president, by that statement, has insulted the intelligence of the Judiciary, and he should apologise, publicly, to them.

IN conclusion, we must point out that the Mills administration lost 13 cases in court because of the incompetence of its legal team and not because it did not interfere with the court processes.  That means, essentially, that the vice president has not answered the allegation of interference in the Buipe chieftaincy dispute, and he will do himself a world of good by going back there to answer it.

BUT first, we re-affirm, he must apologise to the Judiciary.

IT

YET, in the face of all the huge contributions that agriculture makes to our economy, it appears not to be realising its full potential. In this 21^st Century where almost farmers in many developed countries are using mechanised ways to farm, we still have in this country many farmers who use the hoe and cutlass on their farms. Most importantly, there are many Ghanaian farmers who rely heavily on the rains.

HOWEVER, the contribution of the agriculture sector has reduced with Ghana’s discovery of oil. Much emphasis appears to be placed on oil to the neglect of our agriculture sector which has until our oil discovery been sustaining the Ghanaian economy.

THOUGH diversifying one’s economy is good, it is imperative that we do not do that at the detriment or expense of the sector that gives us so much. It is in this wise that Today sees the report that government has managed to secure from the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) an amount of $145 million for the implementation of the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) as refreshing.

WE also are told in the report that was carried on the center spread of the Daily Graphic of Wednesday, May 16, 2012 that the grant under the GCAP is to help address food security in the country. It also discloses that about 30,000 small-holder farmers stand to benefit from the $145 million World Bank/USAID provided facility.

ACCORDING to the Food and Agriculture Minister, Kwesi Ahwoi, who took his turn at the meet-the press-series in Accra, by the end of the project in 2017, Ghana will be able to produce enough rice to feed its population. That is reassuring from the minister, and we hope that the project will be implemented to the latter.

WE at Today are indeed happy to learn that government is taking the agriculture sector serious and making frantic efforts to make the sector a vibrant one. We are again happy to observe from the above that after all we are not trying to sacrifice the agriculture sector for our infant oil and gas industry.

THAT notwithstanding, we on Today think that government needs to do more to make our agriculture sector a vibrant and robust sector to ensure that it contribute more to our GDP. That will mean pumping into that sector a lot of resources.

WE at Today see Dr Nduom’s reasons for his proposal for the abolition of the polling agents in two-fold. One, that the use of polling agents enabled political parties to engage in unnecessary aggression and all kinds of illegal acts that had the potential to plunge Ghana into chaos. Two, the EC which is mandated to conduct free and fair elections must not cede its responsibilities as a strong independent institution to anyone.

THE call by the PPP flag-bearer has received sharp rebuttals from the EC, NPP and the NDC. We are waiting for civil society groups, other political parties’ view on what Dr Nduom has proposed. Interestingly, both the NDC and the NPP have described Dr Nduom’s call for the abolition of polling agent practice as misinformed.

THE General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, who was the first to respond to the issue in a news item in the Daily Graphic yesterday said: “His [Dr Nduom] argument is too simplistic and I think he should come again.” And for his part, the General-Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, argued that electoral violence was not as a result of the practice of polling agents, but rather some political parties which might want to rig elections.

FOR us at Today we think that Dr Nduom has raised an important issue that must critically and dispassionately be looked at. Is it not true today that polling agents have assumed a lot of power and influence, especially on an election day? They have arrogated to themselves so much power that the police are sometimes scared to question their unlawful actions.

WE can cite several instances where actions of polling agents have brought about electoral violence in this country. During the 2008 general election, for instance, a nasty incident was recorded in the Volta Region where the brother of Elizabeth Ohene, Dr Ohene, a polling agent for the NPP, in one of the constituencies in the region, was manhandled and chased away. Similar acts of inhumane treatment were perpetuated by the polling agents of the NDC and the NPP during the just-ended Biometric Voter’s Registration Exercise.

FOR us at Today we are not the least surprised to hear the reactions from the general secretaries of the NDC and the NPP. These are two political parties which have come to see national elections as a must-win or do-or-die-affair, and therefore, have the suspicion that the other party will rig the elections at the polling station level if they do not have representatives there. The question we ask is: Why should the two parties have mistrust for each other?

THE above question perhaps can best be answered by officials of the two parties. We want the NDC and the NPP to look holistically at the polling agents practice; they would definitely see that the demerits of having such agents do outweigh the merits. Against this background, we support Dr Nduom’s call for the abolition of the polling agents practice.

THIS was made known in a news item on the front page of the Daily Graphic of Monday, May 14, 2012 by the Chief Executive Officer of KBTH, Professor Nii Otu Nartey. And according to the CEO of Korle-Bu, the hospital will strive to provide the needed resources to the Dialysis Unit (the unit responsible for undertaking kidney transplantation) to ensure its smooth operation.

WE are also told in the article that the Dialysis Unit which, hitherto, used to operate three times in a week is currently working 24 hours a day. Additionally, the hospital is training a consultant urologist whose task will be to lead and work on kidney patients in the country.

IN FACT, we on this paper are impressed with the efforts by the authorities of Ghana’s premier hospital to ensure that kidney transplant in the country becomes a permanent thing. Understandably, Ghana’s first successful kidney transplant was carried out in the year 2008. And since that hospital authorities tell us that they have not relented in ensuring that kidney patients get permanent treatment here. That indeed is remarkable.

WE on this paper therefore seize the opportunity to applaud authorities of KBTH for their efforts to bring smiles on the faces of kidney patients, many of whom always are compelled to look for millions of Ghana cedis for treatment outside the borders of this country.

AGAIN, we urge the Mills administration to support authorities of the KBTH in their quest to ensure kidney transplantation in this country. This is indeed a national project that will benefit all of us and therefore must be given the necessary logistical support.                   

THE letter, however, said those rights Nana Konadu mentioned are still being infringed upon by both party leadership both in their public utterances and deeds and thereby denigrating the symbolic value of the logo.

THEN comes the expected: “Our client believes that those values were embodied in the vision of the founder of the party and subsequently enshrined in the constitution of the party. Our client further instructs that the said denigration of the logo has manifested in disrespect for the founder, the disunity of the party, the neglect of its egalitarian values, lack of accountability by key party leaders to the membership of the party and consequently in the disaffection of the rank-and-file.”

WHAT may account for this we ask..? Could it be that the ‘Akatamanso’ logo is to shift camp to the National Democratic Party? Her actions indeed smear of sour grapes. Nana Konadu’s demand reinforces the Rawlingses’ claim that the NDC is their brainchild to be possessed by them and used to achieve their political objectives. Those who have thought otherwise and succeeded in preventing them from claiming the NDC as their own seem to have underrated the power of the Rawlingses to cause havoc at will.

CERTAINLY, a party’s public image is reflected by its logo and what it represents. The spirit behind the party largely dwells in that logo. If the former first lady goes ahead with the threat, many have begun wondering what logo the NDC would use for the 2012 elections.

WHAT will the NDC lose without that logo? Produce a new one, re-design and re-engineer itself to be recognised as a new NDC by the electorate? Or will the party’s leaders simply call Nana Konadu’s bluff and let her go and burn the sea in protest? Time would tell.

THE NDC’s internal crisis is definitely proving to be insurmountable for several reasons. The most important of which is the inability of the main players to accept that they are the problems to be solved.

WE on Today wait to see who else will come forward to demand his or her pound of flesh from the NDC? Nana Konadu has set the pace to set the party apart; would it be a surprise if her husband follows suit to demand that the very name of the party be given to him? The NDC may sink together in all of this.

MAY 9, 2001 will forever be indelible in the minds Ghanaians, especially fans of Accra Heart of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko, because on that fateful day about126 persons lost their lives during a stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium.

THAT incident has gone down in history as the worst stadium disaster to have ever taken place in Africa. It occurred during a match between Ghana’s two most successful football teams, Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club and Asante Kotoko.

THE home side, Hearts, scored two late goals to defeat Kotoko 2-1, which led to disappointed Kotoko fans breaking up and throwing plastic seats and bottles onto the pitch.  In response to this crowd misbehaviour, the police fired cannon of tear gas into the crowd.

THE crowd was still thick and the panic and pandemonium that ensued resulting in a stampede and by the time it died down has resulted in the trampling and compressive-asphyxia of 127 people to death.

REPORTS claim medical staff had left the stadium before the incident happened.  Also, according to reports, some gates were locked thus preventing people from escaping out into the open. Six police officers were subsequently charged with 127 counts of manslaughter.

ELEVEN years on it is important to ask whether football fans, and Ghana in general, have learnt any lesson from that unfortunate event? Ever since that day of May 2001, there have been subtle incidents in our stadiums which clearly suggest we are yet to wake up to the realities on the ground. Fans still put up untoward behaviour to the detriment of other fans that go to the various stadia simply to enjoy a good game.

IT is very disheartening and, in fact, criminal how fans pounce on referees and beat them to the point of death, and it is demeaning to the game itself watching and hearing how coaches make disparaging remarks about supervising officials before and after matches.

HELPLESSLY, stadium security personnel try to arbitrate stadium altercations, because a white paper, issued on the recommendation of the Okudzeto Commission, bars them (security personnel) from carrying guns at stadia. We on Today must stress that football is just a game, which you win, lose or draw, and the football-loving populace ought to understand that.

INDEED, the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association when the incident occurred, Ben Kwofie, has posited that football lovers in Ghana have not learnt lessons from the disaster.  “Nobody would like such an incident to occur again but after that time you can clearly see we have learnt nothing from it.”

A causative factor to the disaster, refereeing, still leaves much to be desired. The FA ought to be up and doing, making sure referees are constantly undergoing training, and take steps to severely sanction ill-performing referees.

TODAY therefore calls on football fans, coaches, the media, referees and all others who matter in the game of football to be tolerant in the running of football in the country.  Football, like every game, has rules and once all participants follow the rules properly there is no way things can go wrong.

THE media, particularly the FM radio stations, must stop team officials and sentimental fans that go on air to inflame hostilities, and the police, in handling potentially disruptive incidents, ought to use as minimal an amount of force as possible.

IN a nutshell, stadium, team and police officials and fans must all collaborate to ensure such a hideous incident never happens again within our territory. In the end, May 9, 2001 may be the most harrowing incident in the history of Ghana football, but the onus lies on the ordinary Ghanaian, in holding people in higher offices accountable, to ensure that this thing never happens.

REPORTS in a section of the print media yesterday suggested that some Fulani herdsmen in the Eastern Region were on rampage attacking innocent residents in the region. So far areas which have witnessed the Fulani attacks, according to the report, include Kwahu East, Kwahu North and Fanteakwa districts of the region.

THE reports further say that the attacks have already led to the death of some innocent residents. And the situation, we understand, is causing fear and panic among many of the residents in the said areas. But what we at Today are worried about in the report is the part where the herdsmen were going about in the towns crowing that they have bought the local police. This, if true, portends real danger!

FOLLOWING this act of lawlessness, the Eastern Regional Minister, Emmanuel Victor Smith, has come out to condemn it and expressed his anger at the herdsmen. The regional minister made the condemnation when he addressed a press conference in the region last Tuesday.

WHILE condemning the herdsmen, Mr Smith also blamed chiefs in the area, especially those who gave out lands to the herdsmen to settle on. That, in effect, even suggests that some of our local chiefs for their parochial interest tend to keep silent on the atrocious activities of the herdsmen.

INDEED this is not the first time that we at Today have expressed worry about the menace of Fulani herdsmen in areas where they ply their trade. Their activities have often sowed a seed of discord between them and areas they find themselves.

ONCE again we at Today seize the opportunity to condemn those Fulani herdsmen who have taken the law into their own hands and visiting mayhem on innocent Ghanaians. We therefore urge our security agencies — the police and the military — to map out effective strategies to deal with the Fulani menace which appears to be gaining notoriety in this peaceful nation of ours.

IT is refreshing though, to learn that a police/military operation in Kwahu East district last Tuesday, May 08, 2012 led to the arrest of 28 suspects. Yet Today believes more proactive measures should be taken by our police and military to help clamp down on the Fulani herdsmen menace.

WE also hope that the police will finish with their investigations on the suspects early enough and those found culpable should be arraigned before the law courts for justice to be done them. We must send a strong language to the Fulani herdsmen that Ghana is governed by the rule of law.