REHABILITATING ZUJUNG CEMETRY - A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

(Daily Graphic, Jan 24, 2012, page 19)

IF we were all destined to perish on the same day and time, we would not have to worry about how nice or dirty our cemeteries are, after all, making the cemetery neat would not bring any comfort to the dead.

The reality however is that we would die and be buried one after the other, so many of us would have to visit the cemetery on many occasions in our lifetime.

It therefore behoves on us to keep the cemetery in good condition so that each time we lose someone, we would not hesitate to visit the cemetery.

It is also incumbent on us to dignify the cemetery because there lay the remains of people we shared laughter, joy, pain and all manner of emotions with when they were alive.

On one morning, whiles on my way to work, I tuned to one of the local radio stations in Tamale, Zaa Radio, and heard an elderly man speaking about efforts that he and some other persons were making to build a fence wall to protect the Zujung cemetery.

I became interested in what these volunteers were doing, because the Zujung cemetery, located off the Tamale-Kumasi road, is the most popular graveyard in Tamale.

However, the current state of this cemetery leaves much to be desired, especially with regards to sanitation. Some people leaving near to the cemetery have turned it into a toilet and dumpsite.

Structures are being raised very close to the cemetery and, hence, the boundaries of the cemetery are being narrowed gradually. There are also no guidelines to bring orderliness in the digging of graves and so graves are located haphazardly on various portions of the graveyard.

It is surprising that in spite of the poor state of this cemetery, many people, including political and community leaders, go there regularly to bury their loved ones and yet have not made any effort at putting the cemetery in good shape.

So, later in the day, I drove to the cemetery and lo and behold, I saw four people busily putting up a fence wall.

But how much work can four people do on such a big burial site, I asked the leader of the group, 72-year old Baba Kisco and he said with divine providence, he was hopeful they would do the work till finish.

Mr Kisco said in 2009, he noticed that the cemetery was being encroached upon and he was deeply worried because he thought in future, there would not be any more space for burial.

“I began to make announcements in mosques appealing for support for the construction of a fence wall to protect the cemetery. I asked for cement, sand, water, and other items,” he said.

Baba Kisco said the response was slow in coming but as the months rolled into years, and the years went by, he was able to mobilise a number of these items and therefore decided to start the project.

He said in early 2011, he and three others – Abukari Munkaila, Nanumdoo Fuseini and Tahiru Fuseini – moulded 10,000 blocks.

In November that same year, they finally decided to dig the foundation and raise the wall beginning from the Northern side of the entrance to the cemetery. Till date, if you visit the cemetery, you would find them there working feverishly.

Mr Kisco pointed out that although the four of them were physically engaged in the work, they were being supervised by the Chief Imams of Tamale Central Mosque and Afajura Mosque, Alhaji Abdul-Salam and Alhaji Seidu Abubakari Zakaria, respectively.

He said occasionally, somebody would come to join hands and later disappear, explaining that some people fear to work at the cemetery.

Baba Kisco said since the work begun, the support has not been coming consistently.

“Once in a while, somebody would bring us some bags of cement or trips of sand,” he said, adding that he owed so much gratitude to some food vendors in town who have continued to provide them food during the work.

Mr Kisco said he was very optimistic that the work would be executed till finish if they get adequate cement, iron rods, river sand, aggregate, tanks, water, wheel barrow, shovels, pick axe and other construction materials.

I asked the four volunteers if the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) had offered them any form of support and they indicated that the assembly provided part of the construction materials, although the MCE, Alhaji Haruna Friday had not yet visited the project site.

As the conversation with the four people progressed, a group of people brought the remains of a loved one to bury and we joined them to bid farewell to the deceased.

When we returned to the project site, the four people made me understand that the construction of the fence wall was not the only thing they were doing to keep the cemetery in good shape.

“Each year, we come together to weed the grass in the cemetery. We have been doing this since 1997,” Baba Kisco said, adding that the four of them have been doing community service for a long time.

In fact, the four of them were the brains and hands behind the rehabilitation of sanitary facilities at the morgue of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH).

Meanwhile, some casual labourers engaged by the TaMA to undertake burial activities at the cemetery told this paper that they were witnesses to the good work being done by the four volunteers.

One of them, Mr Abdul-Kahad said the construction of the fence wall would not only stop encroachment, but also keep away unscrupulous persons who visit the cemetery to attend to nature’s call and to do illicit activities, like ‘juju’.

When the Daily Graphic spoke to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of TaMA, Mr Issah Musah, he said the assembly had not shirked its responsibility towards keeping the cemetery in good shape.

“The construction of a fence wall had always been on the drawing board of the assembly, until an individual by name Yaho Yaho galvanised support to commence the project,” the stated.

He said the assembly was collaborating with Yaho Yaho to construct the fence wall.

The reality however remains that when you go to the project site, it is not a contractor or assembly officials who are there constructing or supervising the work. It is Baba Kisco and his team.

It is therefore high time that the assembly and other corporate institutions, politicians, chiefs and other inhabitants contribute their quota towards making the Zujung cemetery a decent place.

For those who have already done so, May Allah bless them abundantly.

SAVE FOREST RESERVES IN NORTHERN REGION

(Daily Graphic, Jan 9, 2012, page 20)

THE importance of forests to human life cannot be overemphasized. According to agric scientists, forests, apart from conserving nature, are a source of life.

They purify the air that we breathe, serve as habitat for the animals that we feed on, and preserve climatic temperatures to protect our bodies. In Africa, in particular, forests are the main source of herbs and many of the food we eat.

Experts have also noted that forests play a crucial role in helping mitigate the impact of climate change on humans.

Some illegally-sawn timber that were recently seized in Saboba

According to the Director of the United Nations (UN) Forum on Forests Secretariat, Mr Pekka Patosaary, forests can act as a ‘sink’ to absorb greenhouse emissions and store large quantities of carbon for extended periods of time.

No wonder the developed world is now committing itself to invest in afforestation projects in Africa under the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiative.

One is therefore at a lost why forests in the Northern Region of Ghana are being depleted at such an alarming rate, in spite of how essential they are to the livelihoods of the people in the region.

Checks at the Forestry Commission indicate that there are 24 forest reserves in the Northern Region.

The region even boasts of having the largest forest reserve in Ghana, the Yakombo Forest Reserve, near Buipe, which occupies an estimated land area of 1,160km².

Each year, more trees are planted in various parts of the region so as to create new or replenish existing woodlots and forest plantations.

Currently, the Forestry Services Department (FSD) of the Forestry Commission is establishing large acres of forest plantations in various parts of the region through the National Forest Plantation Development Programme.

During a recent visit to the Northern Region by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry, the Northern Regional Forestry Manager, Mr Ebenezer Djaney Djagbletey, revealed that the region had exceeded its targets for the plantation programme.

“A total area of 3,309 hectares had been planted by the end of December, 2010, which is far higher than the 2000 hectares target that had been set,” he told the committee.

He said in Yendi alone, a total area of 1,126 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas and 200 hectares in existing forest reserves.

In Tamale, a total area of 462 hectares was planted in off-reserve areas, whiles 70 hectares of areas located within forest reserves had been planted.

In spite of all these glamorous statistics about the establishment of large acres of forest plantations, the question to ask is “how many of these trees would survive?”

How many would become prey to the painful blade of chain-saw operators and how many would crumble when the dry season fires start?

Statistics from the EPA paint a gloomy picture about the depletion of forest resources in the Northern Region.

According to the EPA, the region loses 38, 000 hectares of its tree cover every year due to activities such as indiscriminate bush burning, deforestation, use of chemicals in fishing, over grazing by livestock and illegal commercial logging.

Just recently, the FSD intercepted large quantities of illegally sawn rosewood, which had been felled from forest plantations in the Saboba district.

Due to the depletion of forests and the vegetation, some parts of the region are being reduced to desert-like conditions and this has caused a reduction in food and water resources and also increased the intensity and duration of droughts and disasters in the north.

It is sad to note that many community folk do not seem to know about the harm they cause to the environment and future generations when they run down forest resources.

The extent to which they cut down trees for firewood and to make space for farming and settlements exposes the region to desertification.

Unfortunately, forest conservation issues do not receive adequate attention from local government authorities and politicians in the region.

Under the noses of District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament, Co-ordinating Directors and traditional rulers, forests are destroyed and no one seems to border.

It is high time that the nation’s leaders and the entire populace were reoriented on the importance of forests and the need to conserve them.

Politicians, chiefs and opinion leaders in the region must stand up now to protect the region’s forests and not wait for calamity to befall us.

UNDERSTANDING SADA IS CRUCIAL TO ITS SUCCESS

(Daily Graphic, Jan 9, 2012, page 10)

IT is understandable why the establishment of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was greeted with much delight among some sections of the Ghanaian population, particularly those from the northern Savannah areas.

The North has remained backwards for a long time in terms of development and this has been blamed largely on an old colonial policy which resulted in a situation where development efforts were centred in the south.

After independence, however, it was realised that the lack of development of the north was a bane to the progress of the country in general.

For instance, the low standard of education in the north meant a high level of illiteracy in that area.

The lack of development in the north also resulted in the mass migration of a large army of unemployed youth to the southern sector to seek job opportunities, and consequently leading to over population in cities like Kumasi and Accra, thereby eroding the development gains made in the south.

A number of interventions were therefore introduced to reduce the development gap between the south and the north. Although, many of these achieved some success, they were not enough to bring about the desired transformation of the north.

This re-echoed the need for a much more pragmatic, sustainable and well-strategized development blueprint for the north.

Many therefore heaved a sigh of relief when the government introduced the SADA Bill to parliament, which was consequently passed into law after there was general consensus on the relevance of this body.

The SADA Law (Act 805, 2010) mandates the authority to work towards bridging the development gap between the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone and the rest of the country.

This zone, which is considered the food basket of the country, comprises the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and parts of the Brong Ahafo and Volta regions.

Subsequently, the government constituted and inaugurated a board to oversee the affairs of SADA. A former Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, was later appointed to run the day to day operations of SADA as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

So finally, here is the much awaited development machine for the north.

However, it has become obvious that many people are still dissatisfied. This time, the dissatisfaction is not about government’s inaction in developing the north, but the failure of the newly-established SADA to hit the ground running.

Those who are discontented claim they are yet to see any physical signs of the impact of this authority, in spite of the launch of the Millennium Villages Project (MVP).

Of course, how can you begrudge them? It was the daily language of politicians that SADA would offer a quick solution to the problems of the north, such as unemployment, poor road networks, ailing agriculture, environmental degradation, high illiteracy, name them.

As a result, many northern folk nurtured high expectations about the performance of the then yet-to-be-created SADA. Therefore, failure to see these promises materialise would ultimately generate some disillusionment.

In fact, some have also raised concerns over the failure of government to adequately resource SADA as promised earlier.

My role as a journalist however gives me a unique opportunity to approach this issue from a different perspective.

From my layman’s diagnoses, there is deep misunderstanding among the northern Ghanaian population – be they literates or illiterates – about the mandate of SADA.

This deep-seated misunderstanding has the tendency to affect the credibility of SADA and the government as well. It can erode public confidence in the ability of SADA to transform the north, and lead to a situation where people’s preconditioned minds tend to affect their co-operation with the authority.

SADA, as I understand, was not established to carry out development works all by itself. SADA would neither go to the farms to till the lands, plant and harvest the food, nor would it pick up graders to work on the deplorable roads.

If SADA needs to do some research or feasibility studies into a particular area of intervention, it would not be the one to do it. It would have to work with other institutions that have the capacity to do so, such as the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI).

Again, SADA is not a project that would elapse within a stipulated time and it is not a replacement to all other development programmes in the north.

It would also not be a replacement to the various decentralised bodies or to the National Development Planning Commission, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), the Ministry of Roads and Highways, etc.

Thus, the establishment of SADA does not mean that all resources and funds allocated for the development of the Savannah areas would be channelled to it.

In fact, my understanding is that SADA is an engine that has been built by seasoned economic and development ‘engineers’ with the sole purpose of fast-tracking the development process in the north, just like how the engine of an automobile keeps it moving.

It is a permanent body that would link up with all institutions that are working towards the development of the north and offer strategic leadership and direction to the development process in the north.

By so doing, SADA would ensure that all these institutions focus on the very essential areas and that there is coordination, but not duplication.

SADA would be the magnet that would attract development funds for the north. It would therefore ensure that these funds reach the institutions that are responsible for carrying out the various interventions.

It would as well supervise, monitor and ensure the success of these projects and also ensure the sharing of best practices.

So, in effect, the workings of SADA would ultimately do away with the current situation where the development process in the north is so haphazard and lacks direction.

For me, therefore, it thus not matter how much money government gives to the SADA secretariat, because SADA thus not need to carry out the interventions all by itself, except to ensure that funds are made available for the various initiatives.

Giving a lot of money to SADA at this crucial moment would be like putting the cart before the horse. The plans and linkages must come first, before funding is made available.

The point must, however, be made that the SADA secretariat requires some amount of funding for administrative purposes; but more importantly, it requires the support of the country’s political leadership and that of civil society and the private sector.

I dare say that the failure of SADA would start the day it begins attempting to ‘do it all’. Let us guide against this, otherwise we would get to a point one day when this body is unable to do everything and yet all others might have abandoned their roles and watching from the fence.

SQUARE PEGS IN ROUND HOLES - BANE OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (PAGE 10, AUG 18, 2011)

IT was one of those workshops or capacity building training programmes as we call them now-a-days.
Organised by the Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation in Ghana, the workshop sought to enhance the capacity of media personnel in responding to issues of gender-based violence.
In fact, this was not the first time I was attending a workshop on domestic violence, so the event itself was not new.
At many of these workshops, people go and sit down for long hours listening to other people, called facilitators, who make series of long-loaded presentations, without any impact.
However, this particular workshop was poles apart from many other workshops, because one of the facilitators did leave an impression in the minds of many of the participants.
His name is Mr Adolf Awuku Bekoe, the Co-ordinator of the DV Coalition.
Mr Bekoe made a presentation on “Counselling on Gender-Based Violence” and by the time he finished, some of the participants felt they had been “touched, counselled and challenged to act.”
The simple reason was that Mr Bekoe was not speaking merely because the occasion demanded so, but because he had a passion for the topic he was speaking about.
It was not surprising, therefore, when I found out that Mr Bekoe is the Head of the Psychology Department at the Methodist University College Ghana (MUCG).
Although, one could argue that his profession contributed partly to making him who he is, it is also true that other people might get this training but fail to act as expected.
If you have been listening and watching the Standpoint on GTV, you would appreciate the man I am talking about. His delivery of issues relating to people’s welfare shows he has a calling to his profession.
Now, why am I eulogizing a man I know very little about and have no personal relationship with?
The reason is simple. The passion and grit with which Mr Bekoe delivers his presentations when doing advocacy on DV issues is what endears him to people who come into contact with him.
His ability to influence others to act in a desired manner enables him to leave a mark wherever he goes.
Indeed, there are several other notable personalities in this country whose demeanour demonstrates their love for what they do. Talk of the late Rtd Major Courage Quarshigah, ACP Angwubutoge Awuni, Kwaku Sintim Misa, Uncle Ebo White, Kwabena Yeboah, Nana Oye Lithur, Doris Yaa Dartey, Vincent Kuagbenu and a host of others.
Anytime you hear and see these people talk and act, you get the sense that these people are not politicians, but people with a sense of passion for what they believe in and live by.
If Ghana was made up predominantly of people like these, our development would have progressed much faster. When you have a country with people who are willing to go the extra mile to get the right things done, the results is higher productivity.
However, the problem with our dear Ghana at 54 is that many of its offspring are into professions that do not suit their interests and character. Simply put, many Ghanaians have become square pecks in round holes.
This is why we are complaining about the poor attitudes of some nurses, teachers, doctors, journalists and public servants.
In my estimation, the term public servant means someone whose is prepared to serve the public for the good of the people of the nation, but many public servants rather want to be served.
The last time I visited the hospital, I was stunned by the attitude of a nurse who attended to me.
I reported to a private hospital in Tamale with some fever and after some checks and tests, I was diagnosed of Malaria. As part of the treatment, I was directed to one of the wards to get an injection.
When I entered this room, there were two nurses, a male and female, lying on a bed fidgeting with their phones.
The female nurse got up from the bed, took the injections and asked me to stand at a point and wait. When she was ready, she asked me to lower my pants at the right side and just when I had done this, the nurse suddenly pierced and the needle into my hard bottoms.
Before I could even bring my attention to it, she asked that I lower the left side of my pants. Once again, she repeated the act and then went back to her bed.
With the little coaching I had had from my mom, a retired midwife, I massaged the two bottoms for some seconds, dressed up and “thanked” the nurse. Was that lady really a nurse – somebody who has agreed to emulate Florence Nightingale?
Whiles walking out of the room where I had my terrible injections, I could not help but remember some very passionate nurses who once served and continue to serve with all their body and soul. These are nurses who have demonstrated that nursing was in them.
Some of our current nurses have succeeded in killing patients, when instead they were supposed to keep them alive. Some teachers have succeeded in keeping their students ignorant and depressed instead of making them knowledgeable and inspired.
What we are experiencing is the result when people choose professions that they do not have passion for. You see, when you do something because you are forced to, you would mostly not do it well.
In Ghana many people go into professions for other reasons, other than the passion for that profession. Sometimes, it is for money, other times, it is merely for fame.
Some parents even force their children into professions, like medical practice and law, just because of the prestige attached to these professions. Meanwhile, their children’s temperaments might make them unfit for such professions.
Sometimes it baffles me why parents feel that it is better for their children to be doctors and accountants even when the child desires to be an artist, musician, teacher, writer, actor, fashion designer, etc.
For political reasons, people who have no idea and interest in disaster response are appointed into critical institutions like the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the result is the poor management of disasters.
And for the love of money or fame, we have so-called journalists who indulge in mudslinging and destroy people’s reputations, without any basis.
I could not agree more with Dr Audrey Gadzekpo who once stated that journalism is a calling. So many of those who are not called into it only get into it for some mischief, and they end up soiling the name of the profession.
Certainly, they cannot be compared to the likes of Anas Armeyaw Anas who are willing to go to greater lengths just to get a good story and advance the general good of society.
We can only hope and pray that as we progress as a nation, people would realise their potentials and genuinely take up positions where they are rightly placed to deliver.