There Is Hope For Ghana!

One of the most inspiring stories I have read about Ghana recently goes like this:

QUOTE: A private legal practitioner has gone to court praying [the court] to compel the Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) to construct a section of a road leading to her house at the Teshie Nungua Estates.

According to Mrs Margaret Acheampong, the road leading to her house was so bad that 'she had to dance agbadza' to and from her house.

The lawyer contended that she was a tax payer who paid her property rate and so LEKMA should also perform its obligation by constructing roads.

At the court last Monday, Mrs Acheampong wanted to move the court to the site (Locus). However, the court presided over by Mr Justice A.K. Okwabi, noted that the counsel representing LEKMA, in their defence, had admitted that the roads were bad and mentioned that funds were not readily available to make way for the construction.

Counsel for LEKMA said he had held talks with the Assembly to find the way out.

Mrs Acheampong, who represented herself, told the court that when the Municipal Chief Executive chose to reside within the estates, he ensured that a road known as the 'Cocoa Street' was reconstructed.

The High Court has adjourned the matter to July 14 for parties in the matter to discuss issues with the view of settling it. UNQUOTE

A video I saw of Mrs Acheampong making her case was even more remarkable. She disclosed in the video that she is 72 years old! Now, normally, at that age, a Ghanaian woman can be expected to have sold her soul completely to religion; or she would be sunk in semi-depression or dementia, caused by the belief held by some of her relatives, (especially the ”ne’er-do-wells' among the men) that she was a 'witch' who had used her evil powers to make it impossible for them to find jobs; or when they got jobs, to use all their pay to drink 'akpeteshie' and thus be perpetually broke; or worse, that she had stolen away their manhood and got their wives or girl friends to desert them!

But not Mrs Acheampong. She has a clear mind and a strong voice. She knows what her duties are to her community - she pays her taxes - and she also knows what reciprocal obligations the council that serves her community owe to her and other residents.

Note that she puts emphasis on the fact that she 'pays her property rate.' That is extremely important. For Ghanaians either refuse to pay their property rate, unless forced to do so, or when they pay it, they think it is some sort of punishment which the Government has imposed upon them, and they do not care to find out what is done with it.

So they pay their property rate.
Yet their local councils seldom have a regular, organised way of collecting their rubbish.

Where they have no pipe-borne water, the council does not lift a finger to help them obtain water by tanker. But what is more important to the welfare of residents than water? Handing the residents over to the Water Company, which gives all sorts of excuses about not being able to fulfil its functions, is not acceptable, is it? But do the councils really care?

The evacuation of residents’ septic tanks is usually carried out through a tortuous process.

The markets they use are dirty and smelly.
The gutters in residential areas are often choked full of rubbish, with the result that the gutters cannot adequately conduct rain-water away from homes, so when heavy rains occur, homes get flooded. But many councils expect the Central Government to assume the responsibility of preventing floods, and do nothing at the local level.

Where there are beaches, the councils don’t care to employ people to keep them clean.

Ghanaians tolerate all these things. They know no way of influencing their councillors to take any serious notice of their problems. Yet because they vote every four years, they believe they live in a democracy. They are largely unaware of the fact that democracy is a contract between voters and their elected representatives, which allows the elected representatives to coerce the voters to pay a lot of money, called revenue, which should properly be used to provide services for the voters.

The elected representatives buy fine motor-cars for themselves out of the revenue; everyone has noticed this.

They allocate part of the revenue as 'allowances' which they pay to one another to make life easier for themselves. The very top people are allowed, for instance, to use council funds to pay for drivers; cooks; steward boys; night watchmen and garden boys. Some are given free petrol. But when it comes to repairing roads, or providing any of the services mentioned above, they usually say there is no revenue left to do it with.

And the populace shrugs its shoulders and goes about its business as best it can. Whether Mrs Acheampong succeeds in her action or not; whether the case is settled or not; she has set an example; blazed a trail; which the Ghanaian public should take note of and emulate.

Everyone should put a lot of pressure on officials. Write to them. Go and sit in their offices. Demand, demand, demand! And involve the media in your demands!

They were not born to be officials - they were either elected or appointed. They can be dismissed or be forced to resign. Don’t think that because they are so arrogant, they cannot be touched. If you constantly name and shame them, those who appointed them will find it embarrassing to keep supporting them, and eventually, they will be replaced. And when the news ones come, let them know that you were responsible for getting rid of the old, useless ones, and that you are prepared to name and shame the news too, unless they PERFORM.

The only way to prevent a democracy from morphing into a dictatorship is through public pressure. Mrs Acheampong could have used the time she is using in pursuing her case to do other things that are of importance to her. But she has fully understood the principle of the contract between the governors and the governed. 'I pay my property rate', she says. 'I must therefore have access to the property. And I cannot have access to the property because the road to it is so bad that I have to dance agbadza before I get to the property. You took my money as property rate. You have an obligation to use it to enable me to access the property for which I am paying the rate.'

Logical! She is the sort of person who should be given a national award; who should be invited on to TV and radio discussion panels, to impart some of her wisdom to the younger members of the populace, who are largely apathetic to such concerns.

I doff my hat to you, Mrs Acheampong.
Well done!
Some of your countrymen are very proud of you!
By Cameron Duodu
www.cameronduodu.com