Tuesday, June 05, 2012

10 Deaths Too Many in Ghana; 157 Deaths Outrageous in Weekend Air Crashes in Ghana & Nigeria


At a time that Transport Minister Collins Dauda has told the press that they are considering land at Prampram for a new airport, let it just be said that according to a GHANAWEB piece back in 1998, that land had apparently been acquired. (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ghanaweb.com%2FGhanaHomePage%2FNewsArchive%2Fartikel.php%3FID%3D3331&h=eAQF4SW67AQHua0qIHx54ZGYtQD5Iq4xk0E1dutTHqlZvyw&enc=AZPq10pfBpjQnWme8MQdz4ygNYifQFibhvyq8QvgwCTuR9aPrBW-9vL4gCHnkqamBd_zLGr74VKpmR7nTgIwC7SR), so what had been happening 14 years later that neither the NPP nor NDC governments had broached the issue?

I don't know how many proponents of a relocation exist in the country, but I would be happy to see the media continue to put pressure on the Minister to:

a. account for the report of the Saturday 2 June accident on time
b. sustain pressure to offer updates on the land at Prampram, which had been acquired(apparently) back in 1998.


In the meantime, please find below a facebook discussion I initiated the day after the plane crash of Saturday 2 June, 2012.

Emmanuel K Bensah Jr
Sunday via mobile
Just had an insightful conversation with a good friend, who suggests DODOWA could be our major intl airport, and KOTOKA becomes our domestic one. Who's with me for campaigning 2 re-locate Ghana's intl airport?
 ·  · 

  • Ruby Baah-Messie, Terry Mante and 8 others like this.

    • John Schaefer Why do they keep upgrading Kotoka? It is completely surrounded by the city with no room for expansion. This has been clear since the early 1990s.
      Sunday at 9:27am via mobile ·  ·  1

    • Afua Ankomah Are we still planning to relocate the Administrative capital? If so, Dodowa may not be the best place - it could become another Kotoka very quickly. Doreen Owusu Finaku mentioned they're working on acquiring land at Prampram, but that's a "long term" plan.
      Sunday at 9:31am ·  ·  1

    • Kate Nkansa-Dwamena fast trains systems should be constructed to dodowa before considering the move
      Sunday at 9:34am ·  ·  1

    • Emmanuelle Occansey Please elaborate. What's the rationale for a Dodowa move? Methink Dodowa is a suburb already. And the Akwapim may be too close for the approach to be very safe. Just saying.
      Sunday at 9:42am via mobile · 

    • Kofi Blankson Ocansey shoot, i live within walking distance of the airport.... I don't want to drive from Dodowa to get home... and am sure that am not the only one with those sentiments.
      Sunday at 9:48am · 

    • Afua Ankomah ‎@Kate fast train systems should be constructed nationwide. It may be expensive initially, but I'll forever be in GOG's debt for reducing my risk of hypertension.
      Sunday at 9:51am ·  ·  1

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr Thx, guys. All very pertinent questions, which can feed into themes for a petition:
      1. Rationale for expansion of kotoka--is it not false economy?
      2. If Prampram has been identified for relocation of airport, what r features making it ideal?
      3. State of public transport? Progress of Bus Rapid Transport? Timelines for completion?
      Any journalist in the house ready to push forth these questions to MPs and the like??
      Sunday at 9:54am via mobile ·  ·  1

    • Kate Nkansa-Dwamena ‎@Afua you're right! It should be done in phases, Phase I should be constructing fast train networks from our airports to major hubs and cities in our country. The advantage about Ghana is that geographically we're small so it should not be so difficult.they should build the supporting transportation networks first before relocating the airport
      Sunday at 9:56am ·  ·  1

    • Kofi Blankson Ocansey A cheaper more sensible solution might be to relocate that stretch of Burma Camp road and create a bigger buffer zone for takeoff mishaps. We don't have the traffic to support Kotoka as a domestic airport.
      Sunday at 10:00am ·  ·  2

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr Kate, a sharp wake-up call for govt 2 get more serious on prioritising transport, no? If transport were more efficient, half the headache would be reduced. We're really sitting on a powder-keg, what with rising population. Methinks, though, we HAVE to have a two/three-pronged approach where we're working contemporraneously 2 achieve these urgent objectives.
      Sunday at 10:01am via mobile · 

    • Afua Ankomah There's a Ghana Association of Private Rail Transport Systems set up to do that...it's dormant now, but there's no reason not to revive it. After all, with the people who are actually facing the problem leading a public-private partnership, there should be a way for government to front the money and the private sector to generate returns on an investment that has a positive social impact. Anyone who's interested should message me for details!
      Sunday at 10:05am ·  ·  2

    • Kate Nkansa-Dwamena Kintampo os supposed to be the central hub of our country geographically. We should focus on kintampo as the transportation hub of Ghana. Road, rails should be constructed from that point into other networks. I may even suggest we move the airport there. Do u realise how the rest of Ghana is underdeveloped except for Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi?
      Sunday at 10:06am ·  ·  2

    • Mac-Jordan Degadjor According to some sources at the Ghana Civil Authority, there are plans to relocate the Kotoka Airport to somewhere on the Ada-Pampram road.
      Sunday at 10:31am ·  ·  1

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr Thx, MacJordan. Highly encouraging, but it needs support and pressure to make it happen. We know how our govts r like. This is where, Afua, details of the association ur talking abt wd be very very handy. Why has it been left dormant till now?:-(
      Sunday at 10:38am via mobile · 

    • Emmanuelle Occansey I agree in theory about the Kintampo idea, because it'd the geographical centre of Ghana. However, I happen to know the place and, in practive, it wouldn't be practical, because of the hilly nature of the terrain there. I however strongly believe Ghana is now run as if her northern border was just outside Kumasi and the north and upper regions are ignored. This should change, politically and transport-wise.
      Sunday at 12:16pm via mobile ·  ·  1

    • Emmanuelle Occansey sorry for my spelling and style, I'm thumbing my phone. I know first hand that people in Bolga find they have to sell to Burkina Faso because they find it exceedingly difficult to get their products to points south of Bolga within Ghana. But they can't speak French, and their buyers for all intents and purposes fix their own prices. There is a lot of bitterness over this. With more efficient measures to improve the landlocked situation of the 3 northern regions, these could develop faster. Infrastructures (rail, air) would help. The roads are good, except the dismal 75km leadint to Hamile border, in UW. There are airstrips in decent condition that never see a plane. Rail never went farther north than Kumasi.
      Sunday at 12:22pm via mobile ·  ·  1

    • Afua Ankomah On an extremely cynical note, Emmanuelle - maybe we can help solve their problem by adding Accelerated French to the curriculum. It may be faster than trying to integrate 'the North' into the country's economic development agenda beyond SADA. Emmanuel K Bensah Jr GHAPRATS needs people with persistence and the ability to follow through. There are too few people involved to break down the problem into manageable chunks.
      Sunday at 3:03pm ·  ·  2

    • Kobi Little Excellency Annan ‎Emmanuel K Bensah Jr, I told my dad about this and he is very interested and willing to lend support. Inbox me with some more info if you can and I'll see if I can get the two of you in touch.
      Sunday at 5:21pm ·  ·  2

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr Thx, Kobi. Wd be great 2 have ur Dad on board
      Sunday at 9:08pm via mobile · 

    • Emmanuelle Occansey Afua Ankomah, I agree with you. French teaching is totally inefficient in Ghana. Very few Ghanaians even dare opening their mouths when they meet Francophones. I still can't understand why nobody seems to genuinely find it important to master a language spoken by everybody around them. I mean, we are sandwiched between Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Let's call it "intellectual infrastructures". We need them. You're 100% right. Nothing cynical about that.
      Yesterday at 9:19am ·  ·  1

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr What are thoughts on establishing a FB group to incorporate the following demands:

      1. Ghana must re-locate its int'l airport, and make KIA a domestic one

      2. The govt must come up with a timely report on the fatal crash of Saturday 2 June, 2012. Failure to do so ought to result in the Ghanaian electorate advising themselves whether this is truly a ''better Ghana''?

      3. The govt must explain why it has taken so long to act on demands to relocate the airport to Prampram

      4. The Ministry of Transport must explain why scheduled plans for BRT and improvement of public transport has taken so long

      5. The govt must prioritise learning of French to facilitate cooperation with our francophone eighbours for the benefit n enhancement of the subregion at our borders.
      Yesterday at 10:51am ·  ·  2

    • Mawuli Tsikata Let's hope the proposed location hasn't been sold.
      Yesterday at 10:59am via mobile ·  ·  1

    • John Schaefer Close to Nsawam would be good for the motorway. Only a train line would have to be added, which might run down the centre of the motorway lanes.
      Yesterday at 11:20am via mobile · 

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr The vice-president met a delegation from Czech republic a few months ago to discuss feasibility of metro in Ghana. This issue ramifies into other areas, including a call for Ghana Journalist Association to include transportation and infrastructure reporting in their GJA Media Awards.
      Yesterday at 12:36pm via mobile · 

    • Julius RK Sowu Am not sold on relocating KIA mainly because am seeing this as a knee jerk reaction, plus it would again place on the back burner the much needed and overdue infrastructural developments our regional airports need.
      Yesterday at 1:04pm · 

    • Emmanuel K Bensah Jr Julius, while I appreciate ur point on knee-jerk reactions, I think govt still needs to come clean on the relocation. If it has been on the cards for a while, why has it taken so long to do so, and why has it stalled? What's happened to the idea of Prampram? Is it still feasible? If not, why not? Where, in addition, are our journalists specialising on infrastructure/transport who can give us regular updates and insights on the state of our transport?
      Yesterday at 1:14pm via mobile · 

    • Julius RK Sowu ‎Emmanuel, like all things priorities must be set and lets face it can we fund it ourselves, and would the donors give the go ahead ? take Heathrow for instance with aircraft landing every five minutes and yet still after the noise from concerned citizens for over a decade no chance it will be moved.

      How many flights into Accra a week? and yes it would be nice to say in the coming decade we shall be the West African if not African Hub, but can we warrant the investment at the moment? I still say if anything investments should be put into our other domestic airports not only for logistical reasons but also not to be underestimated social political & economical reasons.
      Yesterday at 1:32pm ·  ·  1

    • Augusto d'Almeida ‎Julius Sorry to say everybody has become an 'expert' on this issue the question you just posed makes heads wangle relocation relocation seems to be the jargon in town....furthermore aviation accidents sats are far lower than road accidents and I am surprise people are no calling for 'relocation' of our road network when thousand of people perish every yr......like you said ' like all things priorities must be set and lets face it can we fund it ourselves, and would the donors give the go ahead'?a food for thought .......thanks
      Yesterday at 3:14pm · 
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Friday, May 25, 2012

Happy #AfricaLiberation Day! The #AU Launches Branding Campaign


I quite understand why there are many who might have an issue with the symbolism of AU day, but until we have even a small group of dedicated Ghanaians and Africans ready and willing to make African Unity happen--by any (legal and legitimate) means necessary--Africa will NOT come out of the doldrums.

Unbeknownst to many, the AU has launched a branding campaign (which pictures I have attached herewith for your amusement!) today, and I daresay if we had a more effective Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ghana would have known about this before AU day! You can read more about it on http://www.au.int.

Secondly, AU day is NOT even celebrated in all AU member states, fueling speculation that some Africans are more "African" than others. Egypt is holding elections today--as you may know--and it is a sad indictment of Ghana-Egyptian relations that there was no indication of the celebration of the day before their elections.

Finally, until we begin to hold our politicians accountable by questioning them on their regional integration commitments around election time (as East African Community is talking of doing), we will hasten slowly. The East African Legislative Assembly, as compared to the ECOWAS Parliament, makes binding decisions on all member states of the EAC. Why has it taken so long for ECOWAS to follow suit? In my view, these and many more urgent issues must animate us on days like these!;-)

Africa Can--and Must--unite.

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Coming Soon: "Underbelly:" or A Journey to Law Enforcement?

My maternal grandfather was an Inspector in the Ghana Police Service, but that's no reason why I want to go into law enforcement.

In fact, let me be frank: I DON'T want to become a police officer in any sense of the term, but I am increasingly interested in pursuing a career that would involve my passion of regional integration/peace and security/ and law enforcement.

This is no out-of-the-blue desire; it's been burning for as long as I can remember. If I had to write a Ph.D right now, it would be on criminology, or looking at the underbelly of society. I've always had a visceral desire to combat injustice--just not sure how I would do it.

A few days ago, my Facebook status read like this:

------------
"Just finished watching another rivetting and exciting episode of the hit Australian true crime drama ''Underbelly:The Golden Mile''[on Fox Africa]. This is what fighting police corruption should be abt: the police bringing undercover officers/wire-tapping/and no less than a Royal Commission which mandates everyone to appear to testify, or face imprisonment. This is WHAT political will can achieve. Kudos, Australia!!:-)"


Just by watching this series alone, I have developed a fairly basic research agenda, which I intend deepening:

  • the role of EUROPOL in globalising European law enforcement
  • law enforcement in (West) Africa, including the role of the West Africa Police Chiefs committee organisation (WAPCCO)
  • The role of INTERPOL in globalising justice
  • law enforcement & regional integration
My upcoming piece on "Underbelly" is not likely to be an exhaustive account of Ghanaian society's ills, but a more reflective account on how I might someday eventually end up in law enforcement, and how the integration of my passion of comparative global regional integration can help make my mind up.

These include why I think our Ghana Police Service should act more as a Ghana Police Force and do away with what I think is an outdated concept of the Inspector-General of Police(IGP) who is appointed; and how our Ghana Police Service should do away with the regionalised system and become a fully-fledged FBI-like police force.

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

How Nigeria is Undermining Ghana's Electricity, and Way Forward for WAGPO?

This morning, a neighbour was kind enough to drop me off at work. Our conversation along the way revealed that he has significant insights into our electricity problem (generally a problem of distribution; generation; and transmission -- and not necessarily in that order all the time!).


The most shocking insight, however, had to do with Nigeria and how it continues to undermine the West African gas pipeline project, which it is a part of. The WAGP is an ECOWAS-supported project to transport natural gas from Nigeria to customers in Ghana; Togo; and Benin. Earlier in the year, one of the reasons for the load-shedding had been ascribed to the shortage of gas by Nigeria to the WAGP. They have a website, which can be found here: http://www.wagpco.com/. Sadly, the information is not as updated as regularly as one would have hoped. 


What we do know is that in an effort to contain the problem of Nigeria's inability to supply gas, ameeting was held earlier in the year. The organisers set up the West African Gas Market Development Committee (WAGMDC), which is primarily made up of representatives of World Bank, WAPCo, ECOWAS and WAGPA. This committee will facilitate meetings amongst buyers and sellers of gas, determine market requirements and through advocacy gain sub regional government support to foster  gas market development strategies (from: http://www.wagpco.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150%3Awagsef-rallies-support-for-sub-regional-gas-development&catid=59%3A2012-news&Itemid=135&lang=en).


Now, the reason for the sabotaging of the gas also has a lot to do with the fact that, as the neighbour inferred, Nigeria has a lucrative deal exporting its gas to Europe, which is embattled because of the fiscal crisis.  This article (Banks Battling European Debt Crisis Lose on African Deals: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-07/banks-battling-european-debt-crisis-lose-on-african-deals.html) is a testament of the crisis-ridden Europe and how the continent is scrambling for opportunities in Africa in every nook and cranny.


Suffice-to-say, there has been little explanation of this development in the media. The Ghanaian press did talk about the lack of gas from Nigeria through the WAGP. However, an interesting article in Nigeria's Business Day is perhaps the best source so far that suggest Nigeria may be up to no good.


Here are some juicy quotes:

  • In furtherance of its expansion plans, Oando Gas and Power, late last year entered into agreement with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to jointly fund a feasibility study toward the development of an interstate natural gas transportation pipeline from the Excravos-Lagos Pipeline System to other southwest states
  • For Oando Gas and Power, Nigeria’s leading indigenous developer of gas and power solutions and one of the companies actively involved in the actualisation of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan, the Federal Government’s initiative is a reinforcement of its robust energy programme meant to provide a home-grown solution to Nigeria’s energy crisis
  • With the country’s proven gas reserve base of 187 trillion cubic feet and a further undiscovered potential of 600 trillion cubic feet, Nigeria is positioned to accelerate industrialisation on the back of massive utilisation of gas, thereby creating jobs which will in turn lead to political stability and security
  • the development was in line with the current drive by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to boost domestic gas supply under the Nigerian Gas Master Plan. 
  • BusinessDay’s investigation reveals that Oando Gas and Power is currently developing a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) facility in Lagos. The CNG facility will deliver natural gas in compressed form, bottled in huge cylinder vessels to customers that wish to adopt natural gas as fuel but are outside the gas pipeline coverage. It will also be used to serve customers that have been unable to connect to the gas pipeline grid due to inability to meet the cost of pipeline connection
Now there is nothing wrong with Nigeria developing its domestic capacity on gas. If Ghana can supply Togo with both water and electricity and Ghanaians have accepted it as fostering cooperation and integration, I do not understand why Nigeria might not see same benefits. I do not want to malign Nigeria, but this revelation is too juicy to leave to oneself. 

I am all for ECOWAS and regional integration, but if Nigeria chooses to pretend to cooperate with its neighbours when it's doing something else, I believe member states should advise themselves. A way forward on this specific development could be WAGP members calling for Nigeria to shape up or ship out. 

I foresee tremendous problems up ahead--no pun intended-- in the pipeline!
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Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Mid-Week Madness:Why I won't vote in Ghana's Elections

Most Ghanaians woke up to a tremendous downpour this morning, leaving many stranded at home for later than usual.

As I made my way to work, I saw a familiar queue--that of Ghanaians waiting to register for the ongoing biometric registration near my area.

I sucked my teeth in disgust.

Forget the fact that it's an important step in our democratic dispensation. I like to think that I take heart in not voting (as I won't have my voter's ID), because I am deadset against getting a voters ID when I have yet to receive my national ID card--promised to be distributed me back in August/September 2011. Why must I vote when I don't have my National ID card yet? Why was money not sought to ensure nation-wide distribution of cards had taken place? And why did our esteemed agencies not ensure that national ID cards would be the de facto form of registration?

Simply put: I won't get a voter's ID card when I don't yet have my national ID card. My national ID card will live LONG after elections are over!




          Check me out: http://www.ekbensah.net

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