Tomorrow 7th December, 2016 will be Election Day in Ghana. I have voted many times before but I think tomorrow will be a special day because first and foremost my son will be voting for the first time and he is as excited as a little brown puppy and secondly, the incumbent government have been in power for the last eight years and many people are at a crossroads and feel they have not derived much from the government in terms of jobs for the youth, new businesses opening up, quality of life having dropped due to massive power outages and huge increases in petrol and food and last but not the least our beloved currency, the Cedi has taken a wild plunge.
I checked out the weather forecast for tomorrow and it says we are going to have rain. Well rain, snow, fog, hail or whatever the weather, nothing will stop me from voting tomorrow, so help me GOD.
It's is time we had a change and I am urging every Ghanaian out there to go and vote tomorrow. Do not let anyone intimidate you, just go to the polling station, cast both your votes for the Presidential and then for the Parliamentary candidate of your choice and then leave the polling station quietly and head home. Do not loiter. When it is 1700 hrs, which will be the time the voting will stop, you can go back and witness the counting of the ballot papers for each candidate.
Will be back here tomorrow to tell you how my day went.
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
Saving a life...
http://www.dawid.com/medicine/they-always-say-its-impossible-until-its-done/
I stumbled upon this story in the link above today. I had seen a few sentences of this story on a friend's timeline on Facebook but didn't have the heart to read it all as it just seemed like another sad story about the British High Commission refusing someone who needed urgent medical care a visa. Interestingly enough, the patient was referred to simply as "John". I sighed and clicked on a notification and a few minutes after, started to send out my emails for the day. However this morning, the same friend's timeline revealed the real name of this this patient and it turned out to be someone I knew very well, David Okai. We had both attended the same primary school and had lived in the military barracks as our fathers were Army Officers.
I had actually bumped into the "patient" two weeks ago at my doctor's. I had not seen him for ages so we chatted animatedly, he showed me pictures of his children, his parents, whom I had not seen for years and also introduced me to his wife Pamela, whom I was meeting for the first time. We shook hands and I smiled and explained to her that I had not seen her husband for some years. She smiled back and nodded it was evident.
So you can imagine my shock and disbelief when I clicked on the link above and read the events that took place shortly after I had seen him. I had tears streaming down my face by the time I had come to the end of the story. The funny thing was as I read, I kept passing comments, especially at the part where he had been refused the visa, and I heard myself say out loud, Oh gosh this surgeon has to go to Accra.
I have had such and awesome day! I have talked about this heroic act all day long, I have shared the above link with all the friends I know on social media and I shall continue to speak about this for the longest time. The act in itself is what I teach my son about..true humanity and perseverance.
Fast forward to Tuesday 14th June, 2016, I am happy to announce that the Home Office in the UK wrote back to the chap who set the ball rolling for all of this, Dawid Konotey-Ahulu, In their letter they apologised profusely and have reversed their refusal for David and Pamela's visas and he will now be able to travel to continue with any treatments.
Do let's all contribute to Dawid's and Prof Nick Ossei-Gerning's cause for getting a world class cardio centre in Ghana. Unfortunately the current Cardio Thoracic Centre at Korle Bu is undergoing refurbishment for a new cath lab and it has taken over a year to do, so what are cardiac patients meant to do in the meantime? Thank goodness for Dr. Enoch Anaglate whose cath lab was used for this procedure.
Kudos to you all.
I stumbled upon this story in the link above today. I had seen a few sentences of this story on a friend's timeline on Facebook but didn't have the heart to read it all as it just seemed like another sad story about the British High Commission refusing someone who needed urgent medical care a visa. Interestingly enough, the patient was referred to simply as "John". I sighed and clicked on a notification and a few minutes after, started to send out my emails for the day. However this morning, the same friend's timeline revealed the real name of this this patient and it turned out to be someone I knew very well, David Okai. We had both attended the same primary school and had lived in the military barracks as our fathers were Army Officers.
I had actually bumped into the "patient" two weeks ago at my doctor's. I had not seen him for ages so we chatted animatedly, he showed me pictures of his children, his parents, whom I had not seen for years and also introduced me to his wife Pamela, whom I was meeting for the first time. We shook hands and I smiled and explained to her that I had not seen her husband for some years. She smiled back and nodded it was evident.
So you can imagine my shock and disbelief when I clicked on the link above and read the events that took place shortly after I had seen him. I had tears streaming down my face by the time I had come to the end of the story. The funny thing was as I read, I kept passing comments, especially at the part where he had been refused the visa, and I heard myself say out loud, Oh gosh this surgeon has to go to Accra.
I have had such and awesome day! I have talked about this heroic act all day long, I have shared the above link with all the friends I know on social media and I shall continue to speak about this for the longest time. The act in itself is what I teach my son about..true humanity and perseverance.
Fast forward to Tuesday 14th June, 2016, I am happy to announce that the Home Office in the UK wrote back to the chap who set the ball rolling for all of this, Dawid Konotey-Ahulu, In their letter they apologised profusely and have reversed their refusal for David and Pamela's visas and he will now be able to travel to continue with any treatments.
Do let's all contribute to Dawid's and Prof Nick Ossei-Gerning's cause for getting a world class cardio centre in Ghana. Unfortunately the current Cardio Thoracic Centre at Korle Bu is undergoing refurbishment for a new cath lab and it has taken over a year to do, so what are cardiac patients meant to do in the meantime? Thank goodness for Dr. Enoch Anaglate whose cath lab was used for this procedure.
Kudos to you all.
Friday, 22 April 2016
Thursday, 14 April 2016
The Plight of the Folks of Agogo.
There is a town in situated in the Ashanti region of Ghana called Agogo and it seems the folks there have had about enough of the nomadic cattle herdsmen who have been coming to those parts as far back as anyone can remember. The Fulani are nomadic people who from time in memorial have travelled across West Africa with their herds of cattle seeking food for their animals. In the past they would go on their way quietly and there were no incidence of scuffles etc. Since 2000 it seems they have become wayward and have started carrying arms and have been known to shoot those who questioned the routes they were taking as that involved trampling over farm land, thus causing the damage of crops meant for harvesting, raping the womenfolk and generally causing mayhem and destruction in their wake.
There have been clashes with the police and military and now the herdsmen have been warned to ensure they either follow the rules regarding staying away from farmlands or they will suffer the consequences.
It seems like this chaos has not been only happening in Ghana but in Nigeria too, across Benue State and in Southern Taraba where even a curfew was put in place to prevent the herdsmen from moving around.
What I would like to know is why have these herdsmen been allowed to continue bringing their cattle after all these years. Surely we are not in the ancient times where tribes could just wander around with their herds looking for arable land? Why don't they rather invest in some land and have a cattle ranch instead? This problem is been discussed in both parliaments, that is in Ghana and Nigeria respectively. I know there is an ECOWAS protocol of free movement of people, goods etc. but this is ridiculous! Why should another tribe of people go into another country and cause so much trouble? Especially these days of terrorist attacks, we are all on high alert and if a group of people decide to cause damage to property etc. then they are going to have to face the rigours of the law. Another mind boggling fact is who are the owners of these cattle? Some say they are some powerful people with links to officials in high places, who go behind the backs of the security agencies and get the herdsmen to break the law with impunity.
My car was in the workshop for the usual monthly maintenance and I had to go to the eastern part of Accra, all the way to Tema, our harbour city. Lo and behold, there were 5 cows grazing in the middle of the roundabout which is just at the end of the Accra-Tema motorway. I gasped and asked the taxi driver if this was a daily occurrence as he is a regular user of that motorway. He replied in the affirmative and added that it even gets worse at night, especially if the cow is black in colour as you will not be able to see it in the night time. He had had 2 experiences he would never forget, the 1st time a car he had been following, drove into a black cow and the second, he just managed to swerve his car to avoid hitting a cow. Why cows are grazing in and around a busy motorway beats me and to add insult to injury, no-one seems to be doing anything about it, even though there have been numerous accidents on the motorway all because of these cattle.
I heard the Ashanti Regional Minister on radio saying the indigines of Agogo had to learn to live with the cattle and the Fulani herdsmen as this was nothing new for them. Pardon me but what sort of response is that? If animals are destroying farmland and their herdsmen are not controlling them, are the farmers going to sit down and watch with their arms folded? I think he needs to apologise and retract that statement as it is NOT a solution.
There have been clashes with the police and military and now the herdsmen have been warned to ensure they either follow the rules regarding staying away from farmlands or they will suffer the consequences.
It seems like this chaos has not been only happening in Ghana but in Nigeria too, across Benue State and in Southern Taraba where even a curfew was put in place to prevent the herdsmen from moving around.
What I would like to know is why have these herdsmen been allowed to continue bringing their cattle after all these years. Surely we are not in the ancient times where tribes could just wander around with their herds looking for arable land? Why don't they rather invest in some land and have a cattle ranch instead? This problem is been discussed in both parliaments, that is in Ghana and Nigeria respectively. I know there is an ECOWAS protocol of free movement of people, goods etc. but this is ridiculous! Why should another tribe of people go into another country and cause so much trouble? Especially these days of terrorist attacks, we are all on high alert and if a group of people decide to cause damage to property etc. then they are going to have to face the rigours of the law. Another mind boggling fact is who are the owners of these cattle? Some say they are some powerful people with links to officials in high places, who go behind the backs of the security agencies and get the herdsmen to break the law with impunity.
My car was in the workshop for the usual monthly maintenance and I had to go to the eastern part of Accra, all the way to Tema, our harbour city. Lo and behold, there were 5 cows grazing in the middle of the roundabout which is just at the end of the Accra-Tema motorway. I gasped and asked the taxi driver if this was a daily occurrence as he is a regular user of that motorway. He replied in the affirmative and added that it even gets worse at night, especially if the cow is black in colour as you will not be able to see it in the night time. He had had 2 experiences he would never forget, the 1st time a car he had been following, drove into a black cow and the second, he just managed to swerve his car to avoid hitting a cow. Why cows are grazing in and around a busy motorway beats me and to add insult to injury, no-one seems to be doing anything about it, even though there have been numerous accidents on the motorway all because of these cattle.
I heard the Ashanti Regional Minister on radio saying the indigines of Agogo had to learn to live with the cattle and the Fulani herdsmen as this was nothing new for them. Pardon me but what sort of response is that? If animals are destroying farmland and their herdsmen are not controlling them, are the farmers going to sit down and watch with their arms folded? I think he needs to apologise and retract that statement as it is NOT a solution.
Monday, 25 January 2016
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