NDC GURU RAISES RED FLAG · Over Private Garages

Story: Christine Kumassah

Mr. Simon Awadzi, Member of Media Analyst Group of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has raised red flag about the privatization of garages at Driver Vehicle and License Authority (DVLA).

Mr. Awadzi said it was a fight for the poor people of this country who engage in commercial transport business, like trotro and taxi drivers since cars are to undergo mechanical testing to detect for road worthiness.

He pointed out that most accidents on roads are not caused by conditions of vehicle but attitudinal, “getting rid of vehicles from roads will not stop accidents on our road”.

Mr. Awadzi noted that the best thing to do is to allow government to continue constructing good roads adding that “if the roads are properly fixed, then the vehicles can be flagged off”.

However, he noted, when the NPP was in power, it was called off because the NPP knew it was a political disadvantage.

 “All the garages belong to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) gurus, so they are now fighting their way through and making sure poor drivers and vehicle owners cry foul and vote against the sitting government.” He added

He urged the government to deal with the issue very well to ensure the rights of the people are not trampled upon. He stressed that measures to be taken to reduce road accidents should be considered before venturing into mechanical testing to flag off vehicles.

Mr. Awadzi pointed out that “An estimated four million people are commercial drivers and car dealers in Ghana. Also an estimated ten million people depend on these commercial drivers and car dealers for daily bread excluding families and friends.

“Citing an example of an estimated population of 27 million people with an unemployment rate of 65-70%, it will be disastrous for an additional four million people to be added to the fray of unemployment if their cars are flagged off the road; this will increases unemployment rate to an estimated 80%.”

Comparing Ghana with the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK) or economies of developed countries, he expressed regrettably that is a way of trying to ‘copy blindly’ from these countries.

 He emphasized that if the NDC does not take precautionary measures, it will be difficult to win the coming election in 2012.

He advised that “we should wise up to kick against or put on hold such practices because they are making life terrible for others”.

He acknowledged that despite the downward trend of inflation, school fees have gone up and prices of other commodities are rising inconspicuously .He pointed  out that the idea was initiated by the former administration to amass wealth for themselves without thinking about the nation.

Safety!Our Priority

                                     

There have been alarming news accounts on the various networks and in the newspaper about the increasing spate of road accidents resulting in preventive deaths

Statistics sourced from the Ghana Road Safety Commission indicate that road accidents are on the increase. Between January - August 2011, a total of 1,431 deaths have been recorded through the road accidents. This compared with a figure of 1,181 registered for the whole of 2010 is very disturbing.                                                        

 Road accidents have been blamed on several factors. The most notable are:  over speeding, disregard for road signs, lack of vehicle maintenance, drunk- driving, tiredness and illiteracy on the part of drivers among others.

Another major cause of road accidents in recent times could be attributed to the use of mobile phones while driving. This behavior is sending people to their grave because when they talk on the phone, they tend to lose concentration.

Also of concern is the disregard for the following: CONSERVATION, OBSERVATION, ANTICIPATION and TOLERANCE.

Conservation deals with maintaining the speed limit of an environment. For example when entering town, the speed limit is 50km/h which is mostly ignored by motorists. Observation means being cautious of the road in order to break if there is an oncoming activity such as another vehicle or a pedestrian. Anticipation deals with being aware of others apart from yourself using the road and knowing how to prepare yourself for an unexpected turn of events and  tolerance is to have patience and understanding for other drivers because some may infuriate you with the way they drive which will lead you to wonder if they went to driving school or not.

Even though, there have been education and awareness creation through the media in the form of music by some artistes such as Obour ,Jay Ghartey and a few others and adverts by the Road Safety Commission, accidents are still on the increase.

  The Greater Accra Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), ACP Victor Tandoh(Rtd) disclosed that 1,800 lives are lost yearly due to road accidents. He added that the number of casualties recorded had 42% pedestrians and 23% of children below age 10. He further said that 70% of all accidents involved people between the ages of 15 and 55 with the majority being men. Mr Tandoh pointed out that over-speeding is the major cause of accidents thereby accounting for over 70% of the reported cases in the Greater Accra Region.

According to him, “  provisional statistics released by the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit(MTTU) from January to September 2011 indicated that 3,708 crashes were reported  during the period involving 5,684 vehicles resulting in 1,771 injuries and 1,679 deaths.”

On pedestrian accidents, Mr Tandoh said the attitudes of drivers towards pedestrians at the zebra crossing especially are very appalling since most drivers do not care to stop. A vivid example is the Ring Road and the crossing in front of GBC, it is always so busy that the drivers always speed through without any regard for the pedestrians especially the children when they go and return from school and have to use the zebra crossing.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey in his address said “government has embarked on a massive road development programme due to the major role road transport played in the movement of passengers and goods.”

The World Health Organization, according to him has predicted that if nothing is done about the situation by 2020, road traffic injuries will be ranked globally as the third cause of deaths, overtaking dangerous diseases like Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria among others.

“He noted that Ghana’s road transport industry lacked an effective regulatory frame work and coordinated approach to deal with the proliferation of transport unions.”

He continued that this challenge has contributed to easy entry routes characterized by the seemingly incompetent drivers, unworthy commercial vehicles and unavailable institutional check mechanism to ensure better safety standards from transport operations.

It is also very sad and heartbreaking to note that with a country like ours striving to provide basic needs like drinking water, health facilities, electricity, schools among others to the citizens, 1.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost through road accidents.

The keywords deduced from all this information is that we need to do what is right always and help ourselves because the government will try to reduce road accidents but it’s up to the we, the people to stop it completely  with their actions.

Adinkra Symbols

In Ghana, there are special symbols known as Adinkra which means goodbye and were mostly worn in the form of clothes by royalty as mourning clothes thus showing respect to the dead. Adinkra  is the name given to the colorful ,hand printed, hand-embroidered  cloth used for mourning by the Akan people of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. However its production and use have come to be more associated with the Ashantes than any other group of people.

Oral tradition dates the arrival of Adinkra among the Akan to the end of the Gyaman-Ashante war in 1818. The King of Gyaman copied the symbols on the Golden stool(which was the heart and soul of Ashante)which signified that he disrespected the Ashantes by saying indirectly that he had their heart and soul and therefore  the Asantes  had no vision. This infuriated them and led to the war where the King of Gyaman, Nana Kofi Adinkra was captured. To add insult to injury, he was captured in a cloth with the symbols all over.  Another source has it that an Englishman Thomas Edward Bowdich collected the piece of Adinkra cloth in 1817, which demonstrates that adinkra art existed before the traditional starting date. He got this cloth from Kumasi, a city in south-central Ghana. The patterns were printed using carved calabash stamps and vegetable based dye. The cloth features fifteen stamped symbols including nsroma(stars),dono ntoasuo(double Dono drums) and  diamonds and the piece is now in the British museum.

Adinkra symbolism is a visual representation of social thought relating to the history, philosophy and religious beliefs of the Akan peoples of Ghana and Cote' d'Ivoire" defined Dr. Kwaku Ofori-Ansa.

Adinkra symbols express various themes that relate to history, beliefs and philosophies of the Ashantes. Others depict historical events, human behavior, animal behavior, attitudes, plant life forms and shapes of objects. There are several types of Adinkra cloth. Thus, the cloth worn by tribal chiefs have symbols such as think ahead and performing the unusual. Brightly coloued cloth called Kwasida is worn by the people for more festive occasions. Each Adinkra symbol has a name and meaning. The first adinkra symbol meant royalty which is the basis for adinkra. Symbols like Gye Nyame (except God ) means the symbol of omnipotence and immortality of God, funtunfunafu denkyem funafu  means democracy or oneness irrespective of cultural diffrences, adinkra hene (adinkra king)means royalty or greatness and thus forms the basis of adinkera printing and many more. For example the Mercedes Benz logo, the star has been adopted by the cloth makers which now represent prestige and power in Ghana. Also the Ghana Standard Board use the hyemudua meaning excellence or superior quality, the People’s National Party use the abe dua which signifies self sufficiency or toughness and the Takoradi Flour Mill use sankofa which means wisdom or learning from old experiences.

However, adinkra symbols continue to change as new influences impact on our Ghanaian culture.the adinkra clothing is stamped with adinkra symbols and is one of the examples of traditional clothes in Africa.

Due to modern trends adinkra is used for festivals, marriage, naming ceremonies among others. It can also be worn by anyone for a special occasion as compared to the past where it was for only royalty. Adinkra symbols can be described as small symbolic pictures and motives used to decorate colorful patterned cloth by fashion designers in Ghana.

 Designers use adinkra to create and decorate other accessories like flower vases, for interior decorations of rooms and houses.

Also, other artisans/craftsmen like architects and sculptors use these symbols to design their products.

Added to that, some corporate institutions use these symbols as logos for their institutions based on their meaning and its relevance to the brain behind the set up of the organization.

Adinkra symbols are usually used in clothes based on the message the individual want to convey to the people around and the quality of the cloth shows status of the one wearing it.

 

REFERNCES.

v http://www.altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsardinkra.htm.

v Facts and History,AdinkraSymbols, http://www.ghana.gov.gh.
http://www.touringghana.com/adinkra.asp
http://www.africawithin.com/tour/ghana/adinkra.htm