Government Officials and Auction Cars in Ghana Harbours

Having suggested the most essential changes in Ghana Harbours concerning the fact that, BNI security officers should not be allowed to endorse any document that has been prepared or completed by custom officers, we move on to consider other changes that could bring peace and fairness into the country. We mentioned that these officers could render their services in the form of being there as investigators and keeping watch over people's properties in order to guarantee their safety in the two harbours in the country.

But there are other issues in the harbour that have not received meticulous investigation into by researchers or investigators in the country. In our social psychological interaction study, we ascertained these as needing redresses, which could bring some fairness to the numerous citizens and foreigners alike who utilise our superb infrastructures in the port to conduct their businesses. We believe that as we dissect these issues and later to bring out recommendations, the government will consider these recommendations seriously and make some amendments or corrections regarding the manner businesses are conducted in the two most important harbours in the country. We would like to sound it clear that our recommendations are something that could also be later investigated into to see whether they will yield the same results, similar ones, or be modified through these other studies.

In our day to day lives, we are aware that circumstances that people find themselves could determine or influence the manner they will behave at a particular point in time. A kind man or a God fearing man who is a devout Christian when faced with the possibility of saving his life from armed robbers could become a murderer. And so would another respected businessman who is faced with bankruptcy in his company, which is headed by his only dear son could end up sacking him instead of maintaining him in this top position. In short, in social psychological investigations it has been discovered that, our good motives fail to exonerate us from certain circumstances which make us feel threatened or put us in danger. It is these same circumstances that sometimes prevent individuals to spend their immediate resources to claim their own goods from the harbour in time. When this kind of situation is the case for many businessmen and private individuals, their resources would not be capable of aiding them to claim their goods in time. It is fair to assert that this is just one of the many cases where people would be unable to claim their goods which could make their important assets be temporary confiscated by the port authorities or the government.

Goods or assets temporary confiscated by the authorities are usually not sold by the government until letters have been sent to request the owners to come forward and claim their goods. Usually, due to serious circumstances not all may be able to come forward and reclaim their belongings again in the appropriate time. The result will be that the government could not withhold those things any longer, so he may be forced to get rid of them by auctioning these valuable properties that private individuals or companies have invested heavily in them. As ordinary individuals, we may not be in a position to put ourselves in the shoes of these individuals or companies that had fumbled their assets due to unforeseen circumstances which probably was beyond their personal control.

Here, our meticulous analysis resulting from our social psychological interaction study, proposes that the crucial need at the moment influences clients as well as businessmen for taking decisions that could resemble the opportunity cost model. These decisions may be unfavourable though, as they become like the gamble type, which put them at a higher risk. This new theory to be dubbed The Need-At-The Moment Theory prevents many prospective individuals as well as businessmen to not able to clear their valuable properties which they had invested in them earlier to be claimed in the right time. They are often not able to make it known to people closer to them and not even authorities that are aware of their meagre financial situations. The need may be the obvious fact of lacking money itself or resources and contacts that could help these individuals to clear their goods or assets. The economic theory of The Need-At-The Moment is usually disregarded by all people, including the government as legitimate for someone or a company to use as the excuse of not being capable of withdrawing/clearing things from the harbours. It is something that nobody will be prepared to listen to as tangible for explaining the reasons why goods cannot be claimed at the right time. After all, banks and investment companies are around that are willing to give loans for any person that could present collateral security, which should not be a problem for new companies as well as established ones.

Based on the social psychological factor of immediate circumstances influencing the decision or behaviour engaged in by clients as well as businessmen, and the economic theory of The Need-At-The Moment, we the researchers at the port propose these recommendations to the Ghanaian government:

Recomendations:
1. That the Owner of a property confiscated by the state has the ultimate right to buy his own car/property at final auction price before any other person could do so.

2. If the Owner is not able to buy his own assets or property, then final price bought by someone else should be divided into three among – i) Government ii) Taxes iii) Car Owner.

3. That we petition the Government that No government official or custom officer should be allowed to buy auction cars or properties at the Harbours.

AUCTION = (+/-)OWNER = (GOVERMENT + TAXES + OWNER) = GOVERNMENT OWNER

Remarks
The economic theory of The Need-At-The Moment should be investigated again by other researchers to discover how many people in the world around are missing their lives for failing to attend hospitals when they fall ill. In countries where poverty is the norm and many people live from hand to mouth, you will find clients as well as patients making private decisions to rather prefer to die than to utilise the only resources they have accumulated for their families or successors. It was this reason which caused Dr Shipman, the British doctor, who murdered many of his clients to commit suicide when faced with the choice of either living to salvage his reputation which has economic consequences (living to loose all his pension and property) or die in order to allow his family to inherit his fortune that he had gathered.

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The Author of this article is a former Associate Professor in Åbo Akademi University in Finland and Uppsala University in Sweden. He is currently at the University of Ghana, Legon, at the Department of Psychology as a lecturer.