.... through strategically measures via Parliament

The inequalities of any country cannot be only tackled by a ruling Government accept via a long strategic long-term plan of action, which is formally agreed by all political parties via Parliament.

Our social improvement has not significantly changed that much. The good news is there is room for more improvement in all areas right now. Reflecting back to the 1960, one could remember that things were much better then as compared to what we are currently experiencing. Our ladies were going to Ball room dancing, an active YMCA, The Boys brigade, etc etc. On the shopping front, there was UTC chains of shops under the leadership of my late grandfather, R.A Fenuku as the first African Director and owner of Victory Cottage, Ofankor, Kingways stores, Glamour, GNTC chains of shops and many more. Those days Ghana’s Accra High Street was very vibrant and a desirable model. The early 1970’s also saw a new wave of purposeful built polyclinic and met expectations in communities. Local school were fielding students ready for our job market. Ghana was thriving along a steady centile its developmental progress not significant but manageable.

Then came a word called “Greed” and sadly some Government Ministers forgot their main objectives for being in power. This therefore set back our developmental progress. Nevertheless, on a positive note one can say there has been some advancement in medical and scientific knowledge as a result we currently have a highly trained professional workforce. However, it appears there is not a massive investment in the healthcare system. Most of our health centres in the villages are not fit for purpose. They seem to be poorly furnished and not meeting expectations in addressing the Health of our nation. Yet again the Agave Development Association U.K and many Ghanaian organisations in the U.K, US, Canada, Germany and many more have all contributed to improvements various health centre throughout the country.

The irony of the matter is for some Ghana seems to be fantastic place to be live and work but I don’t think so. These feeling sometimes mask the widening gap between health outcomes and economic growth in some of our most deprived communities. It is a known fact that a baby born into a home with parents in good jobs and well educated and financially prosperous equates to a better chance of longer living as compared to a baby born to parents who are not. This is the challenge all political parties.

If we know the impact of what the above statements have on children across their lifespan then this would have alerted our Politicians/Parliament to act proactively in improving the health outcomes of young lives.

The social determinants are the collective set of conditions in which people are born, grow up, live and work. They include housing, education, financial security, and the built environment as well as the health system. This tells us that we need a collective Government to address these keys strategic areas early and in addition monitor, review and evaluate operations from top level down. To date there has been lack of significant investment in tackling the social determinants of health and as a result we are experiencing levels of unfairness in health inequalities. For the purpose of this article I will be referring to Britain’s achievement in addressing its own problems. Once upon a time Britain was once faced with poverty during the Elizabethan England that was in 16th century with mounting economic problems as the poor became poorer, and a growing army of vagabonds and beggars roamed the streets and countryside. Its population rose dramatically which also added to economic pressure the country was facing. As a result people were unable to support themselves and standard of living dropped and the problem of vagrancy worsened and impacted on the whole country.

Does these stories sound familiar?

The U.K Parliament accepted the problem and worked tirelessly as one entity to turn things around giving themselves short and long term plans of action and following it through different Governments. They passed a series of strict poor Laws and others in their efforts to turn things around. Britain was once ruled Ghana so still have strong ties with them. Presently, Ghana is facing the same problems Britain did face sometime back and was able to comprehensively address them effectively.

My question is that why is Ghana trying to reinvent the wheel on social developments & improvement when we could easily tap into the knowledge of the British health care and Educational system and many more. Why are we so head strong in seeking necessary help to resolve ours? Would it not be easier learning from hard lessons from Britain or other countries rather than reinvent the wheel on policies that will work /or won’t work? The smarter countries like China and Japan are always learning and emulating from developed countries in an attempt to look great.

The bold step is not going backwards but rather forward because we say we are independent and in charge. The market intelligence from these countries dates back from the 16th century however that is the sort of intelligence we desperately in today’s Ghana.

Your thoughts Tackle the inequalities that exist in communities through strategically measures via Parliament

Ghana flourish long ago so those born before and immediately after the independence see a different picture of Ghana compares to those born in the 1980’s. Ghana never experienced the same level of abject poverty as Britain back then. This is why Ghana is still struggling and we see Presidents going away with a begging bowl instead of generating the wealth from its backyard.

It would be fair to say challenge Parliament that by 2018 Ghana should expect to see key progress in the below areas.

• Ghana’s political parties must come forward with a sensible plan for meeting the challenge of fiscal consolidation for our country.

This can be done through Parliament. ? In readdressing education with firm policies in child protection and emulate British the Children Act 2004 designed with the guiding principles in mind for care and support of children, Every Child Matters document, National Service framework for Children, Young people and Maternity Services, Equality Act 2010, UN Convention for children rights, A new approach to child poverty: tackling the causes of disadvantage and transforming families lives’ thus raising the achievement of disadvantaged children. This is a document released by the U.K Department of Education 2011. So why should The Department of Education and Health want to reinvent the wheel on a limited budget instead of shouting for help and sharing best practice with countries who have already been there and are too happy to share.

? Ghana need to comprehensively addressing better educational standards and health inequalities that exist in communities. There should be no more “Under The Tree” form of education without any risk assessment and evaluation on the impact weather conditions have on vulnerable children. Seriously this is no longer a laughing matter any more. It is a failure of any Government/ Parliament if I endorsed as acceptable. Surely, if any risk assessment or an evaluation have been done regarding morale of both the teachers and their pupils the practice would have stopped by now.

A typical example, if one goes to the Deputy Minister of Education’s constituency “Mepe”, Juapong and Dofor in North Tongu district one would surely to find that vulnerable children are being educated “Under The Tree” and with no formal measurement as to their school attainment and absences due to weather conditions.

The parents of such children are voiceless and powerless in challenging their MP because they themselves are vulnerable, illiterate and lacks the confidence to challenge their MP as to why there has been no developmental progress in their area.

Why is that the there is inequalities in the share of Ghana Educational budget?

Does this scenario sound familiar?

The vulnerable children of Ghana also deserve more, universal screening of eye and hearing test at one year of age, free nursery education for early years until 16. It appears there is fear factor in people or they are unaware that they can easily use their human rights to challenge the Government and hold them to accounts.

? Reflecting on what Britain, our Parliament must also set a series of laws, which reflect on current climate and lay down stricter guidelines for vagabonds and beggars currently littered on our city centres. Research shows that serious measures were introduced in Britain during 1572, 1576, 1601 when they had these problems too. The finding also showed that The 1563 reaffirmed the policy of whipping able –bodied beggars and also vagabonds were burned through the right ear and if the persist were imprisoned. I am not suggesting that we emulate this punishment but we must show a no -nonsense approach to able –bodied beggars on our High streets.

Your thoughts.

Part 3

Tackle the inequalities that exist in communities through strategies via Parliament

• Government to have recoupling of earning and economic growth a key priority of macroeconomic policy.

? This area involves all the Governmental departments working together from education, health, trade and industry etc. Parliament needs to identify the interlocking challenges that threatens social mobility and child poverty ? There should be a significant investment in early year education as it is essential for the economic growth of any country. Let’s think as if every child born is ours so we want the very best for that child and think of progress in education for our next generation. We need to have quality children for a better Ghana. In addition, we need to be offering wider participation thereby offer free apprenticeship with conditional offer so that we have high intake for those who the academic route is not their choice.

• Government to have taken further steps to devolve power and funding to city regions to give local areas power to boost economic growth in their areas.

? In one of my articles, I suggested that Government/Parliament must make tentative efforts to work with local leaders in their efforts to unlocking growth and developments that exist in most of our communities. Decentralise power balance is much needed in our country. ? Why are there no real developments in our villages? ? Cities drive innovation which villages don’t but how can we unlock hidden talents scared around our villages and tiny communities. ? In the Britain, the Government have agreed to devolve new powers to the largest cities in a series of unique deals and stated that the deals would help those cites to invest in growth, improve local workers, skills and create jobs, support local businesses, control budgets and improve critical infrastructure. ? This is why one keeps repeating the same phrase why is Ghana reinventing the wheel. This is not happening in Ghana. Many towns do not even have a community centre /public library service for children and young people to go and therefore have no access to ICT. When is the Government going to be ready shift powers to local leadership by this I mean engaging with local chief to articulate their needs of their community. The introduction of DCE was great but has not yielded any significant improvement in communities or has it? Please do correct me if I am wrong here.

• Government to have taken action on housing, supply, helping some young families to achieve their aspirations ? Housing is not just building any place and calling it a home but a secure safe place free from crime is what is called a home. The cost of housing is problem in Ghana and building materials are always on the rise. Is Parliament ensuring that there is a long and short-term strategy for building affordable homes for workers? I can’t answer these questions however feel that it is the responsibility of the Government /Parliament to work with all DCE, Local chiefs & key leaders within every community in identifying needs, building cheaper home /eco friendly homes so that every one have a decent home. ? Ghana is now one of the oil producing country so bye bye to all the shantytowns. Welcome to a new breed of new housing schemes for all. Let’s “walk the walk and talk the talk” if Ghana boost of being an oil producing country. ? Parliament must make every effort in ensuring that the ordinary people needs are met first before the Greed of Government Ministers. This was the example set by late President Thomas Sankara for his people in 1990’s -Burkina Faso a next-door neighbour. Therefore in thriving to build a new nation Parliament must have give a significant educational budget with budget earmarked for the annual maintenance of all schools thus ensuring that all children are given the opportunity to achieve as their human right and progress thus leading to their economic independence.

Your thoughts.