Questionable happenings in Ghana
I personally do not understand certain things that happen in Ghana. I find them very frustrating and I hope there is somebody out there who can help me understand them and help me overcome my frustration.
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Adomi Bridge: Was it not known for many years that the Adomi Bridge had developed a fault and needed to be replaced and that it would take two years to replace it? Why was it then that no alternative road was provided for passengers who normally cross the bridge to the Volta Region and beyond? Why can’t a new bridge be constructed at a different site nearer the old one? Isn’t there enough hardship for people already? Why do we create new ones? I don’t get it. Can somebody help me get it?
Per diem: Why is it that when we travel for a function for which transportation is paid for, accommodation is paid for, feeding is paid for people are still seeking per diem before they attend the function? Isn’t that waste? Isn’t that financial loss to the state?
Sitting allowance: When people are appointed to work on committees, they demand sitting allowance. They are served breakfast, lunch and paid for sitting. Why? If they go to work, don’t they eat their own breakfast, and lunch, and sit as they work? Are they not already paid for the time spent sitting at the committees? No wonder there are so many committees that never finish doing their work and new committees are set up to investigate why the earlier committees did not finish their work all because of sitting allowance. Why?
Professional development: It is strange to me that people ask to be paid to go and get knowledge for professional development although transportation, feeding, accommodation and course fees have been paid for. Do we have to pay people for the knowledge they get to improve themselves?
Strikes: Why do people go on strike? They don’t work. Teachers don’t teach when they are on strike, doctors and nurses don’t treat patients when they are on strike and patients die. After the strike, they go for salary for no work done. Isn’t that shameful?
Research and book allowance: In any serious organisation or country, access to research fund is not automatic. One must provide a research proposal to a committee in charge of research fund and if the committee finds the proposal significant, credible and feasible, then, money is released for the research as the expected result would have to add value to knowledge and society. Research is a serious matter and collecting money for research is not a tea party.
Cedi depreciation: When you produce less than you consume, consume what you don’t produce, don’t produce what you consume, export less and import more, you go bankrupt and the value of your money will depreciate. Why can’t we control our economy? Do we need the IMF and the World Bank to tell us how to control our economy?
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Single spine: A simple notion of fraction in Mathematics teaches that, fraction is part of a whole unit partitioned into a number of equal parts. So, salary can only be a part of the whole GDP as a unit partitioned into a number of equal parts of which salary is a part. If you want a part of the fraction to be bigger, you make the unit (GDP) bigger. You don’t take the other part of the unit for something else. For example, you don’t use road construction fund to pay salaries. Why should salary consume all our GDP?
Child labour: Some people these days are lazy, especially the youth. They don’t know how to sweep, cook, wash dishes, keep the environment clean and help their parents do any work because of the description of such chores as of child labour.
I worked on a cocoa farm, carried loads of cocoa to the buyer before going to school and I wove baskets to sell to supplement my school fees. Upon all that, I topped my classes, finished secondary school “O and A” levels, earned my first degree, Master’s degree and PHD and I have taught in tertiary institutions, in and out of Ghana and I have now retired as Professor in Mathematics and Mathematics Education. If it were now, would have been incarcerated in prison for child labour. Rather, I think they helped groom me to take control of my life. What is child labour? I don’t get it. Can someone help me get it?
Environment: We were thought hygiene, nature study, civics and to take care of the environment. We were thought not to litter around, but these days, people litter indiscriminately and our environment has become a health hazard. Don’t we know that cleanliness is next to Godliness? Why are we so dirty?
These are but a few of the many things happening in Ghana that I don’t understand. I hope there is somebody out there who will help me understand. Thanks for reading.
Writer’s email : sitsofe@mathned.org