Waiting On The Rains

The news from the Ghana Meteorological Agency that the rains may not be around this year as they should makes sombre hearing or reading.

This is because our agriculture is largely rain-fed and our power supply leans heavily on hydro sources.

Already, our over dependence on hydro power has put us in a very awkward position as far as energy is concerned, since the Volta Lake is not getting enough water.

The implication of what is happening on industry and the economy is worrying.

Obviously, the indication is a threat to national growth, which must be converted into an opportunity. But to do that would call for an effective strategy to ease the problem.

It is important that we assemble all the knowledgeable people in the energy sector to brainstorm and provide solutions.

Such a session should be able to provide short, medium and long-term energy solutions so that businesspeople will be guided to enable them to make informed decisions.

It is important to organise such a session because it would be worth the cause, since the economy cannot perform well without a reliable power supply.

How suicidal it will be if all the gains which have been made so far are allowed to be eroded because of erratic energy supply.

When it comes to agriculture, we do not expect to experience what happened in 1983 when people had to queue to buy kenkey.

We are constrained to remark that we have paid lip service to the conservation of water for far too long.

It is a fact that our neighbours in the Sahelian area have decided to harvest water from many sources because if they do not do that, they will bear the consequences.

We are fortunate to have rains during a greater part of the year but we allow the water to flow into the sea or streams, without any conscious effort to harvest it.

Unfortunately, we have taken things for granted and sometimes we forget about what the nation went through in 1983.

Bold and concrete steps must be taken by all concerned to change our mindset about some developments over which we have no control but the Good God has generously provided us with such as rains.

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. However, in this age, people are expected to be proactive and so we have all that it takes to plan ahead to avert a number of problems before they occur.

Indeed, that is why we have a big problem. We are accustomed to using the 'fire fighting' approach which does not help our forward march.

Now is the time to be up and doing.