Who Pays For The Cost Of The Demolition, Mr. Mayor?

On Tuesday, July 14, 2015, I read on City Fm online that the Accra Major, Mr. Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, is praising himself for the demolition exercise. Obviously, if the demolition exercise would reduce flooding and the in the process save lives in the event of torrential rainfall, then we are all for it. But, on the other hand, if it is a kneejerk response, then am sorry, Mr. Mayor you have to rethink your might in demolition and pulling down structures. A few weeks ago, I listened to Joy Fm, and heard all the comments some experts provided on the demolition currently ongoing. But unfortunately, none of the experts talked about the social cost of the demolition.

Since I do not have access to the Mayor, I want to use this medium to ask the Mayor these questions: Mr. Mayor who pays for the social cost of the demolition? What measures did you put in place to minimise the social and economic cost of the demolition on those affected by it? Did your demolition exercise think of not compromising the livelihood of those affected? I asked these questions because over the weeks I have been musing over how the demolition exercise is balefully affecting lives. These questions rushed into my mind as I listened to the cry of a poor woman who has lost her source of livelihood and as result would not be able to pay for her children’s schooling.

Obviously, the rich would pretend not to care about the impacts of the demolition, but there is always a spillover effect. The spillover effect is that that boy or girl whose education has been sacrificed and truncated because of the demolition would, by society’s fault, become a deviant and menace to society. So, here, am referring to Rousseau’s assertion that, “Man is born free, but everywhere, he is in chains.” Society through the taking of reckless decisions creates social deviants and misfits. So, if you are quiet today because the demolition does not directly affect you, remember that we are only deferring trouble for tomorrow.

Development, however you define it, comes at a cost. No developed nation under the sun emerged out of nothing or developed on a silver platter. At every turn in history, some have sacrificed their lives for others to enjoy. The lives of great men and women have been compromised for the collective benefit of the majority. The industrial revolution in England came at a cost.

The lives of children had to be sacrificed in the factories for the English to reach the apogee of human civilization. East Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Japan, all emerged as industrialised nations at a cost. Our own history bears testimony to that. Some great men of Asante, here am referring to individuals like Tweneboa Kodua, who laid their lives for the liberation and consolidation of the Asante kingdom. That is the social origin of heroism. We also celebrate the deep sacrifices of our Fathers and Mothers, the peasants in particular, who fought hard for the independence of our great nation.

Thus, while it is a truism that development has always come at a cost, it is also a fact, attested by history, that any civilized society had thought of how to minimise the cost of development. I don’t think Mr. Mayor had any such plans. The cries of women and children, who had to travel up North because of the demolition was not factored in the demolition exercise. The social ramifications of the demolition were not considered. Mr. Mayor did not think of how the demolition was going to deny some poor children the benefit of education, which we are told is the right of everyone? The demolition also did not consider the burden that is going to be exerted on social facilities in the destinations of most of the residents of Old Fadama.

How do we reverse the possibilities of some young ladies who have been affected by the demolition from making recourse to prostitution, which has lost its ‘sinfulness’ by a new nomenclature, ‘commercial sex’, as a means of survival? What about possible drug peddlers, armed robbers, and thugs for politicians? I don’t want to stigmatise any group of people, since I don’t believe that there is any particular group that has higher proclivities to violence. As I said earlier, I believe that society through lack of think-through policies breeds social deviants. If sociologists are rights that deviants are a necessary and social fact of life, then what society must do is to device ways of reducing such deviants. We all stand to lose if we don’t work collectively to ensure that everybody has a fair share of the national kenkey.

Next year is a political year, have we thought of how young men who have been rendered jobless would be used by politicians to achieve their selfish and self-centered interest? Have we considered the trap we are laying for ourselves as we pull down structures without providing any alternatives? Obviously, politicians are going to harvest the fruit of the demolition. There are those who will harp the exercise as a political capital to win votes, and there are equally those who are going to use these youth who have been made jobless by society to perpetuate violence.

While I am not a prophet of doom, because I love Ghana, I must say that the forthcoming elections could see violence if nothing is done immediately to provide jobs for those who have been rendered jobless. Considering the fact that Ghana’s economy has taken a nosedive, I have no shred of doubt that we are creating more idle strong men for violence. What happened in Talensi is emblematic of a country that should not take chances. We need to preempt violence by putting the right measures in place!

Finally, some parts of the Northern Ghana have been earmarked by security experts as highly prone to violence. Unfortunately, most of these young men who have been rendered jobless are from these areas in the North. Mr. Mayor, did you factor that one too in your demolition exercise? My experience in the Upper East and Northern Region proper and interactions with Northerners have helped me to deconstruct the myth that Northerners are violent people. What I believe is that no group of people is impervious to violence: and no group of people is inherently good. Violence is created by society, so it would take society to reverse it. My concern is that, since violence is created, the Northern Regions should be considered in policymaking and the spread of development.

The colonialists denied the Northern region the benefit of any development: that is if colonialism actually stimulated development. I would also want to implore my brothers and sisters from the North to accept the challenge in the Region and accept going back to work after they have had education in the South. Some of my brothers and sisters from the North, with whom I studied at the University of Cape Coast, decided to settle in Accra.

Please Accra is choked, so we must also accept to settle in the North to help stimulate development in the Region. The change begins with us. It is great to contribute to the betterment of society. Also, those at the helm of affairs of institution that are meant to stimulate development in the North should eschew corruption, and invest wisely in the development of the region.

Mr. Mayor, please muse over and see whether your actions were wise and providential.

Satyagraha!!
Charles Prempeh ( [email protected] ), Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, Uganda.