African Union Day (AU) falls on 25 May every year but this year it was clouded with the violence that is going on in South Africa against other African migrants. South Africa at the last Africa Union Conference which was held in Accra, Ghana in 2007, were one of the main proponents of putting systematic measures together but not being hasty in order to become 'one' unlike their Libyan counterparts.
The violence that is being seen in South Africa is a deep-seated one and began way before steps towards a united Africa were rekindled by the present African leaders. The late Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana had plans for a united Africa but unfortunately he did not get to see his dream unfold. Fifty years on, we are still struggling to achieve this dream and rather the continent is being ravaged by unrest,civil wars, hunger, poverty, corruption and a host of other factors.
Some people wondered why we had to celebrate another holiday but for me, it was a day for reflection; to understand why this continent is still not united and why we are still not self-sufficient. A high percentage of the world's natural resources are to be found on this beautiful continent of ours but are we utilising the resources to better our individual countries? NO!! As a result of civil wars and economic hardship, a number of people have had to leave their home countries and settle in other countries. Some have honest jobs and others are even fortunate to own a business. However we need to understand that whatever problems the people in any one country may be facing, should not be metered out to the other nationals living there.
It is time the South African government woke up to the plight of their people and find out the true reason for all the violence. Violence never solved anything and the earlier we begin to appreciate this, the better.
Oh and for those of you out there is there a criteria for joining the AU just like that of the EU? If you do happen to know about a critiera for joining the AU kindly share it with us. I know about the African Peer Review mechanism but that is different. As always do comment and share.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Monday 19 May 2008
Setting Good Examples
The Police have been in the news for the last three weeks continuously..the news? some bad nuts in the service who have committed every wrong one can think of. I am talking about being involved in narcotics, corruption and the one that tickled me pink was the one about 2 cops who were involved in a carjacking. They forced out the car owner, zoomed off in the car, only to try and sell it a few days later. They were caught red-handed as the car owner had lodged a complaint with the local police station. You can imagine the surprise of their colleagues when they realised that the culprits were none other than old buddies from the force.
This is the headache of the current Inspector General of Police as there have been more sensational stories that have been making the headlines in the last 12 months. They have had a series of work shops and seminars to discuss the meaning of good leadership and how not to be swayed by material things. Even at the last passing out parade at the police academy, good leadership skillsserving a good example to fellow colleagues and learning to serve and protect were once again reiterated.
It is a pity this seems to be falling on deaf ears and we hope that the calibre of people on applying to join the Police force will be given the scrutiny they deserve rather than give them a chance because their uncle knows someone high up in the force.....a word to the wise is enough!
This is the headache of the current Inspector General of Police as there have been more sensational stories that have been making the headlines in the last 12 months. They have had a series of work shops and seminars to discuss the meaning of good leadership and how not to be swayed by material things. Even at the last passing out parade at the police academy, good leadership skillsserving a good example to fellow colleagues and learning to serve and protect were once again reiterated.
It is a pity this seems to be falling on deaf ears and we hope that the calibre of people on applying to join the Police force will be given the scrutiny they deserve rather than give them a chance because their uncle knows someone high up in the force.....a word to the wise is enough!
Thursday 15 May 2008
They Have Earned it!
The was a story in the Daily Graphic a few days ago where some chap had been caught impersonating a medical doctor and had been found out by the Medical and Dental Council here in Ghana. Sadly when the case went to court, the judge said that the chap should be made to do community service. Unbelievable!!! Students in medical school spend all that time studying the human body, what makes us tick and swear the Hippocratic oath and some chap who is playing with lives, has no qualifications whatsover is made to get off lightly? What is this world coming to?
All the young doctors who have passed out from Medical School after their long hard slog have earned the right to be called 'doctor' and this should not be taken lightly. Some idiot on the airwaves who was contributing to a call-in programme said that the offender should be trained properly as a doctor and sent to the northern part of the country as most young doctors wanted to be in the capital city, Accra. I am sorry but that is not the answer to our health delivery woes in northern Ghana and this person who called in needs his head checked. It is this getting off lightly that has made people belittle professionals and think that they can impersonate them.
Come on honourable judge, you will not be amused if someone tried to impersonate you in a court of law so give the doctors their due respect because THEY HAVE EARNED IT!
All the young doctors who have passed out from Medical School after their long hard slog have earned the right to be called 'doctor' and this should not be taken lightly. Some idiot on the airwaves who was contributing to a call-in programme said that the offender should be trained properly as a doctor and sent to the northern part of the country as most young doctors wanted to be in the capital city, Accra. I am sorry but that is not the answer to our health delivery woes in northern Ghana and this person who called in needs his head checked. It is this getting off lightly that has made people belittle professionals and think that they can impersonate them.
Come on honourable judge, you will not be amused if someone tried to impersonate you in a court of law so give the doctors their due respect because THEY HAVE EARNED IT!
Worst for Care
"Worst for care" is the description the Ealing NHS Trust got from 76,000 patients who took part in a poll which was carried out by the Health Commission in the UK. The areas that is was judged on where: cleanliness, food, mixed wards, health delivery just to name a few...
I applaud the Health Commission for carrying out this poll and we in Ghana need to do the exact same thing here. Here in Ghana we do not have a Health Commission and when one wants to complain about health delivery or rather the lack of it, there is really no-one whom you can turn to and complain. This is very frustrating and one has to resort to the airwaves to make one's voice heard.
I recently was bereaved; I lost my mother and the sort of things we had to go through were just unimaginable. This teaching hospital is supposed to be Ghana's pride and joy but it is seriously lacking a number of things. First and foremost the staff lack human relations. These are non-existent and one is treated with disdain and contempt and woe betide you if you try and tell them that you happen to know some procedures, you will be termed as being "too known", a Ghanaian term for being a know it all. Next on the list is logistics. You walk into the pharmacy of the department only to be told that the items requested by the doctor are out of stock. So one starts one 'wild goose chase' for the items requested. One of such 'chases' lasted three hours until a doctor friend of mine told me quite frankly that the prescription the doctor had written was really for want of another word silly buggers!
Trust me I went to every pharmacy in this great city of ours but they all had variations of it and I was told to bring back the injectable version of it!! Third on the list of things lacking is training. I am an HR Consultant and how I would love to have those nurses and ancilliary staff in my training room! They would drop those snooty attitudes at the snap of a finger...my finger (smile)
At 2.30am we, that is my mother, myself and the 2-man ambulance crew, arrived at the Emergency Unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the first thing that struck me was the ward was full and there were no beds left! I had seen this several times on the television but was hoping that somehow this would have been a situation that would have been alleviated. My mother had to sit on the gurney from the ambulance from 2.30am until 10am! As if this was not bad enough, I had to actually take part in assisting my mother as the nurses on duty just couldn't be bothered to take instructions from the houseman(or rather housewoman). The young doctor on duty was apologetic and I did feel sorry for her because if her own staff could not adhere to her instructions, then I wonder how she was ever going to earn their respect. At this juncture, I must congratulate the Vice President H.E. Alhaji Aliu Mahama, for his Ambulance Service initiative to support the health sector. This service is free (trust me we used it thrice) and the staff are friendly and ever eager to be of assistance. Citisearch owes you a free training session!
No members of staff were available to assist with blood samples etc. (mind you there never are and you have to do everything yourself)..between carrying the bag with Mum's personal effects, I was juggling 4 iv's which weighed a ton(didn't know those things were so heavy!) and blood sample bottles which as you know are so delicate. Amidst all this juggling I was running as the distances from one department to another are so far and walking was just not an option. I burst into the central laboratory only to see a bunch of men including the security man, snoring their hearts out! I rapped my knuckles loudly on the door and received a sleepy stare from the security chap who mumbled something. Unknowingly to me, there was a pool of water on the floor right at the entrance to the lab which were droplets of water from the airconditioner above and the 'mumble' from the security chap was to watch out for the pool of water...thank goodness I saw it in time and did not go careering across the hall...
The lab technician eventually woke up, rubbed his face several times and blinked about 100 times before he saw me standing by his counter. He told me how much it cost and then asked me to leave the documentation and bottles on the counter. He strolled casually to the counter, keyed in the cost and then gave me a receipt and walked back to his bench and lay down in the same position I found him in. I shook my head in disbelief and muttered an expletive under my breath..
To be continued...
I applaud the Health Commission for carrying out this poll and we in Ghana need to do the exact same thing here. Here in Ghana we do not have a Health Commission and when one wants to complain about health delivery or rather the lack of it, there is really no-one whom you can turn to and complain. This is very frustrating and one has to resort to the airwaves to make one's voice heard.
I recently was bereaved; I lost my mother and the sort of things we had to go through were just unimaginable. This teaching hospital is supposed to be Ghana's pride and joy but it is seriously lacking a number of things. First and foremost the staff lack human relations. These are non-existent and one is treated with disdain and contempt and woe betide you if you try and tell them that you happen to know some procedures, you will be termed as being "too known", a Ghanaian term for being a know it all. Next on the list is logistics. You walk into the pharmacy of the department only to be told that the items requested by the doctor are out of stock. So one starts one 'wild goose chase' for the items requested. One of such 'chases' lasted three hours until a doctor friend of mine told me quite frankly that the prescription the doctor had written was really for want of another word silly buggers!
Trust me I went to every pharmacy in this great city of ours but they all had variations of it and I was told to bring back the injectable version of it!! Third on the list of things lacking is training. I am an HR Consultant and how I would love to have those nurses and ancilliary staff in my training room! They would drop those snooty attitudes at the snap of a finger...my finger (smile)
At 2.30am we, that is my mother, myself and the 2-man ambulance crew, arrived at the Emergency Unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the first thing that struck me was the ward was full and there were no beds left! I had seen this several times on the television but was hoping that somehow this would have been a situation that would have been alleviated. My mother had to sit on the gurney from the ambulance from 2.30am until 10am! As if this was not bad enough, I had to actually take part in assisting my mother as the nurses on duty just couldn't be bothered to take instructions from the houseman(or rather housewoman). The young doctor on duty was apologetic and I did feel sorry for her because if her own staff could not adhere to her instructions, then I wonder how she was ever going to earn their respect. At this juncture, I must congratulate the Vice President H.E. Alhaji Aliu Mahama, for his Ambulance Service initiative to support the health sector. This service is free (trust me we used it thrice) and the staff are friendly and ever eager to be of assistance. Citisearch owes you a free training session!
No members of staff were available to assist with blood samples etc. (mind you there never are and you have to do everything yourself)..between carrying the bag with Mum's personal effects, I was juggling 4 iv's which weighed a ton(didn't know those things were so heavy!) and blood sample bottles which as you know are so delicate. Amidst all this juggling I was running as the distances from one department to another are so far and walking was just not an option. I burst into the central laboratory only to see a bunch of men including the security man, snoring their hearts out! I rapped my knuckles loudly on the door and received a sleepy stare from the security chap who mumbled something. Unknowingly to me, there was a pool of water on the floor right at the entrance to the lab which were droplets of water from the airconditioner above and the 'mumble' from the security chap was to watch out for the pool of water...thank goodness I saw it in time and did not go careering across the hall...
The lab technician eventually woke up, rubbed his face several times and blinked about 100 times before he saw me standing by his counter. He told me how much it cost and then asked me to leave the documentation and bottles on the counter. He strolled casually to the counter, keyed in the cost and then gave me a receipt and walked back to his bench and lay down in the same position I found him in. I shook my head in disbelief and muttered an expletive under my breath..
To be continued...
Wednesday 7 May 2008
Mother's Day
Once again it is time to honour our Mothers for all that they have done and probably in some cases are still doing. My Mother passed away on Easter Sunday this year and was buried a little under 4 weeks ago.
It was a very painful experience....though my Mother at 72 years of age lived to be much older than her Mother,who passed away at 44, (Mum was about to turn 18 then) it was as if something had been ripped out of my heart. I am in my early forties and very grateful that my Mum could see me grow up, start work, have a child and then eventually start my own business, but like they say one is never really prepared for it.
I am thankful that she survived this long just to see how we all turned out etc. and it was so good to come home and start to tell her about my day and all that happened. Mum was always sharp, she would never meet my clients but as soon as I started telling her about something they did that wasn't genuine, she would warn me to watch out for them and truly she was always right!
One is never quite sure whether one does enough to let one's Mother know how grateful they are but I reckon my Mother knew that I was grateful. I wish now that I had told her everyday but then again I am sure I would have probably ended up writing a book. She taught me about patience and how to watch and listen before making one's move:just like the Leo she was and me the impatient Arian. :-)
For me it was as if she lived her life like she was playing chess, only making poignant moves that resulted in a win that would make your head spin fast.
To end my piece I would like to say that I loved my Mum very, very much and here is a text from a Hallmark card my son gave to me last Christmas which definitely sums up my Mum. It made me all teary-eyed...
I love you Mummy, Rest in Perfect Peace!
It was a very painful experience....though my Mother at 72 years of age lived to be much older than her Mother,who passed away at 44, (Mum was about to turn 18 then) it was as if something had been ripped out of my heart. I am in my early forties and very grateful that my Mum could see me grow up, start work, have a child and then eventually start my own business, but like they say one is never really prepared for it.
I am thankful that she survived this long just to see how we all turned out etc. and it was so good to come home and start to tell her about my day and all that happened. Mum was always sharp, she would never meet my clients but as soon as I started telling her about something they did that wasn't genuine, she would warn me to watch out for them and truly she was always right!
One is never quite sure whether one does enough to let one's Mother know how grateful they are but I reckon my Mother knew that I was grateful. I wish now that I had told her everyday but then again I am sure I would have probably ended up writing a book. She taught me about patience and how to watch and listen before making one's move:just like the Leo she was and me the impatient Arian. :-)
For me it was as if she lived her life like she was playing chess, only making poignant moves that resulted in a win that would make your head spin fast.
To end my piece I would like to say that I loved my Mum very, very much and here is a text from a Hallmark card my son gave to me last Christmas which definitely sums up my Mum. It made me all teary-eyed...
2 parts patience
1 part strength
A dash of laughter
Wisdom and tenderness to taste
Combine all ingredients and mix well
I love you Mummy, Rest in Perfect Peace!
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