By Doreen Hammond
It has become a common practice to see mothers and their sick children or sometimes mothers themselves on television soliciting funds to undergo medical treatment. In a tearful tone, a mother narrates how she or her child has contracted some ailment and how they do not have the means to foot the cost of treatment and is therefore appealing to the public to come to their aid.
Some of them get the desired help and are able to get the treatment they require. For others, help comes too late. But the question is: Should we, as a society, accept a situation where we always have to parade the sick in the media (to the public) before they get the needed help?
A recent TV news revealed the dehumanising plight of a visually impaired woman who had made the Odawna Bridge home to her family of two equally visually impaired children. According to the story, the children were three but one could not be found. The whole family looked hungry and emaciated. It was after this exposure that the family got help.
One does not need to drive around our cities for long to encounter very pathetic scenes that carry poverty and exclusion to the high heavens. They also point in some way to the lack of fellow-feeling and the questions that come to mind are: Has our social welfare systems failed us? Where is our religious or cultural/traditional ethic of sharing? Does our extended family social protection work anymore? Is our traditional way of life, where people grow up in the family house and children don’t even know who their real mother is because they are taken care of by all the women in the family gone forever?
In Ghana, there are two ministries responsible for social welfare. There is the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare under which the Department of Social welfare is and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs. In summary, their mission statements affirm among others, the social integration of the vulnerable, excluded and the disadvantaged for the development and growth of the economy. NGOs and some philanthropic individuals are also involved. Clearly, women and children, as well as the aged and the unskilled are easy victims of exclusion.
There are abundant stories of how children, once orphaned, become hungry and find themselves pushed onto the streets in search for food; with no homes, no shelter and no clothing, not to talk about education. Those who seem lucky to get to orphanages may not have totally escaped misery, for the hardship continues there, as if losing both parents is not enough trouble. The orphanages still depend on public donations to keeping running. Some of these orphanages are run by NGOs who use the children as mere numbers to solicit funds but these funds never get used for the purpose for which they are collected. Exploitation is the game. Stealing is the name! The results? Obvious— Poor nutrition, poor growth and a future with little hope for the children. According to Mr Stephen T. Adongo, Director of The Department of Social welfare,” There are about 5,000 NGOs on our register. Some just register and in less than a year, they fold up. We cannot even determine those who are active and those who are not.”
Most Ghanaians who are born physically challenged or become physically challenged through some incident or accident become vulnerable. The lack of physical abilities to do certain jobs exclude them from the mainstream job market and even if they do get jobs, they are poorly paid. By the mere presence of their challenge, they are unable to access most public places because provisions have not been made to facilitate their movement in most of such buildings. They are stigmatised and discriminated against.
On our streets are many people who have become beggars only because they are sick and cannot afford medical care. They are there with the unemployed who cannot maintain their families, and young, able bodied men and boys forcefully clean your windscreen in traffic with the hope of getting some money.
The issue of porters, better known as kayayei, has been overflogged. Most of them have migrated from the northern part of the country in search of jobs in the south. Their hopes are big but they find out too soon on arrival that living in insanitary conditions and a constant struggle for survival on the streets of Accra await them.
In spite of some interventions by Government and NGOs, the situation is not improving. For instance, there is an enforcement of Ghana’s 1998 Children’s Act requiring orphanages to present annual audited accounts. UNICEF is also assisting in drawing up new guidelines for orphanages.
The Department of Social Welfare has been intervening by taking some of the homeless and street children off the streets. There are also vocational training and skills-upgrade for artisans.
The Department of Social welfare also runs a system known as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty(LEAP) Programme where cash is paid out to people under the poverty line.
Next week, the LEAP will pay 19,159 vulnerable people in 83 districts throughout the country a total of GH¢413,604.00
The amount is in respect of their remittances for the months of March and April this year.
According to Mr William Niyuni, Assistant Director in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Department of Social Welfare, 15,746 people were paid a total of GH¢656,950.00 for November 2009 to February 2010.
The number of beneficiaries under the programme keeps changing because of reasons such as deaths, unavailability and inability of beneficiaries to collect monies as of the time of payment through Ghana Post.
Mr Adongo explains that the LEAP is one of the programmes put in place by Government to provide some relief to vulnerable people in the country.
Among those illegible are orphans, persons with severe disabilities who are untrainable and persons above age 65.
Even though not all such people are receiving help now, the department is to expand the programme to cover 55,000 households by December this year.
The Government has in place a policy to ensure Free Compulsory Basic Education for children, and it provides meals for some pupils in the School Feeding Programme and free school uniforms too.
But to what extent have these programmes been successful?
Mr Adongo was not happy that due to inadequate funds and inadequate staff strength, the department has become a “fire-fighting institution”; we know what to do but are unable to be proactive because of these reasons.”
“People will see a mentally ill person attacking someone on the street and that is when they take a phone and call and we rush to the scene to see what we can do to help, but should this be the situation?”, he asked.
It is an irony that the School of Social Work, run by the department, trains 45 people as social workers every year, but these workers cannot be employed by the department because there is no money to pay them. These social workers trained by the Government and with Government resources therefore find work in the private sector.
From what we see on our streets and in society and the challenges of the Department of Social Welfare, it is obvious that our social welfare system is failing us.
It appears that on paper we have what it takes to take care of the vulnerable in our society. We have the institution and the regulation but the reality of what we see on our streets speaks volumes.
We need a political commitment that will enable us make the care of the vulnerable in our society one of our priorities. Such a priority will culminate in an increase in our budget to provide the needed funds and employ the requisite staff to improve our social welfare system.
It is difficult to see how a society that does not take care of its vulnerable can make meaningful development.
Parading the sick in the public should not be a practice our society should be proud of.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Television and the Internet— The enemy within?
By Doreen Hammond
At a ceremony at the Christ The King Church in Accra recently to confirm 140 baptised Catholics into the faith, the Archbishop of Accra, Most Reverend Charles Palmer-Buckle asked parents to be wary of the “new armed robbers” and carriers of immorality they had introduced into their homes.
He said that while parents had built high walls around their houses and further fenced them with electric barbed wire, the new robbers they should look out for were the television and Internet they left their children with all day without supervision.
He said that those technologies were the sites where children were picking up some of the unacceptable societal behaviours today.
Thanks to television, today busy parents are able to concentrate on their search for money and other business away from home knowing that they will not be missed very much by their own children. Gradually, consciously or unconsciously, the television and Internet has taken a central role in our lives.
Some studies have suggested that apart from sleeping, one other thing that occupies and takes the time of children most is television watching. Children are able to become so glued to the set that even when their parents call out their names, they do not hear, and have to be called so loudly several times. They are even able to forgo meals in favour of television and there is a continuous struggle among siblings in the home for possession of the remote control.
To resolve this problem many parents have acquired more than two sets for the home, sometimes it’s one for each room in the home! Children sit in front of the television with text and notebooks in hand pretending to study with one eye on the television and the other on the notes! How this works out beats imagination! But they go on flipping from channel to channel and are more able to tell where Rihanna’s next concert is to take place, how many times Tom was able to get even with Jerry and why Lil Wayne is heading for jail rather than be able to tell you why one plus one will not make three.
In her review on Children, Television and Gender Roles , Elena Beasly notes that children spend an average of 3.3 hours a day in front of the television every day. Van Evra, Judith (1990) in her study into Television and Child Development finds that Children do not simply absorb TV information, but actively process it and impose their own interpretations and expectations.
Even though the power of television and the Internet is not absolute because of some intervening variables, some teenagers who have neither been to the US nor had physical contact with some American musicians for instance, dress like 50 cent with bling , earrings and tattoos and the male teenagers walk all day with one hand holding on to their crotch, their trousers constantly falling off and words such as s**t and f**k you flowing without inhibition from their mouth in the name of fashion and “ to be seen as “G” by their mates ! Where else could they have picked these attributes?
Children flip from channel to channel absorbing stuff that may not be suitable for their formative age. How many times haven't we heard about children being involved in some freak accident as a result of imitating some action figures, Batman, Danger Mouse etc on television? Add the influx of all some Nigerian movies which don’t get shown in Nigeria but show freely on our sets and the picture becomes even bleaker!
Then again are the health effects of our newly acquired sedentary life styles. Some sit and watch television as they push loads of snacks like pop corn into their mouth. This is in contrast to how not too long ago we used to walk to school, to get water, climbed trees, sang and created our own play items such as toys and ran after lizards. Before the introduction of the television in the 1920s and the growth of the mass media, our influences on how to behave in society was acquired from the family, the community and school. The growth of the mass media has had a significant impact on the lives of everyone with the television and Internet becoming a very power medium. Thanks to television and the Internet, our active way of life has been reduced to the minimum. So today we have teenagers with pot bellies!
But it’s not all doom for the relationship between us, the Internet and television. Television viewing has its positives. Television and the Internet are great sources of information and learning which could help in the development of social roles and behaviour. TV entertainment programmes kill our boredom. We are able to improve our language through sheer information sharing on television and we are able to learn history just by clicking the button of the Internet. The two mediums carry us to places where we have never been keeping us abreast of happenings in other parts of the world and business trends.
We are able to seal business transactions via communication on the Internet. Therefore television and the Internet maintain their primary role of providing information, education and entertainment which are positives. Through discussion programmes we are able to share our ideas and views which is a prerequisite for the thriving of democracy. Our leaders are able to know what we want and what we are thinking.
But the concerns raised about what these powerful mediums are doing cannot also be glossed over. If only parents could be available to guide their children, but alas, where is the time?
Afua Yeboah , a mother of two has had to impose strict sanctions at home,— No television on week days— As to whether she is at home always to ensure that her directives are followed is another matter. Addiction to TV seems to have no simple remedy. Television and the Internet cannot take the place of parenting but that is exactly the way it seems now. Parents send their children off to watch TV when they think they are worrying them to much when all they want is some time with them and to get their questions answered.
How can we create a healthy balance between television and Internet use and other household and community activities for ourselves and our children? One of the ways to go is to make sure that content is child friendly.
The earlier we think this issue out the better, else , like The Most Rev Palmer –Buckle said, we will build higher walls with high voltage electric barb wire fences hemming in these new robbers and our children and the results may not be too pleasant for us as a society with set values and norms.
At a ceremony at the Christ The King Church in Accra recently to confirm 140 baptised Catholics into the faith, the Archbishop of Accra, Most Reverend Charles Palmer-Buckle asked parents to be wary of the “new armed robbers” and carriers of immorality they had introduced into their homes.
He said that while parents had built high walls around their houses and further fenced them with electric barbed wire, the new robbers they should look out for were the television and Internet they left their children with all day without supervision.
He said that those technologies were the sites where children were picking up some of the unacceptable societal behaviours today.
Thanks to television, today busy parents are able to concentrate on their search for money and other business away from home knowing that they will not be missed very much by their own children. Gradually, consciously or unconsciously, the television and Internet has taken a central role in our lives.
Some studies have suggested that apart from sleeping, one other thing that occupies and takes the time of children most is television watching. Children are able to become so glued to the set that even when their parents call out their names, they do not hear, and have to be called so loudly several times. They are even able to forgo meals in favour of television and there is a continuous struggle among siblings in the home for possession of the remote control.
To resolve this problem many parents have acquired more than two sets for the home, sometimes it’s one for each room in the home! Children sit in front of the television with text and notebooks in hand pretending to study with one eye on the television and the other on the notes! How this works out beats imagination! But they go on flipping from channel to channel and are more able to tell where Rihanna’s next concert is to take place, how many times Tom was able to get even with Jerry and why Lil Wayne is heading for jail rather than be able to tell you why one plus one will not make three.
In her review on Children, Television and Gender Roles , Elena Beasly notes that children spend an average of 3.3 hours a day in front of the television every day. Van Evra, Judith (1990) in her study into Television and Child Development finds that Children do not simply absorb TV information, but actively process it and impose their own interpretations and expectations.
Even though the power of television and the Internet is not absolute because of some intervening variables, some teenagers who have neither been to the US nor had physical contact with some American musicians for instance, dress like 50 cent with bling , earrings and tattoos and the male teenagers walk all day with one hand holding on to their crotch, their trousers constantly falling off and words such as s**t and f**k you flowing without inhibition from their mouth in the name of fashion and “ to be seen as “G” by their mates ! Where else could they have picked these attributes?
Children flip from channel to channel absorbing stuff that may not be suitable for their formative age. How many times haven't we heard about children being involved in some freak accident as a result of imitating some action figures, Batman, Danger Mouse etc on television? Add the influx of all some Nigerian movies which don’t get shown in Nigeria but show freely on our sets and the picture becomes even bleaker!
Then again are the health effects of our newly acquired sedentary life styles. Some sit and watch television as they push loads of snacks like pop corn into their mouth. This is in contrast to how not too long ago we used to walk to school, to get water, climbed trees, sang and created our own play items such as toys and ran after lizards. Before the introduction of the television in the 1920s and the growth of the mass media, our influences on how to behave in society was acquired from the family, the community and school. The growth of the mass media has had a significant impact on the lives of everyone with the television and Internet becoming a very power medium. Thanks to television and the Internet, our active way of life has been reduced to the minimum. So today we have teenagers with pot bellies!
But it’s not all doom for the relationship between us, the Internet and television. Television viewing has its positives. Television and the Internet are great sources of information and learning which could help in the development of social roles and behaviour. TV entertainment programmes kill our boredom. We are able to improve our language through sheer information sharing on television and we are able to learn history just by clicking the button of the Internet. The two mediums carry us to places where we have never been keeping us abreast of happenings in other parts of the world and business trends.
We are able to seal business transactions via communication on the Internet. Therefore television and the Internet maintain their primary role of providing information, education and entertainment which are positives. Through discussion programmes we are able to share our ideas and views which is a prerequisite for the thriving of democracy. Our leaders are able to know what we want and what we are thinking.
But the concerns raised about what these powerful mediums are doing cannot also be glossed over. If only parents could be available to guide their children, but alas, where is the time?
Afua Yeboah , a mother of two has had to impose strict sanctions at home,— No television on week days— As to whether she is at home always to ensure that her directives are followed is another matter. Addiction to TV seems to have no simple remedy. Television and the Internet cannot take the place of parenting but that is exactly the way it seems now. Parents send their children off to watch TV when they think they are worrying them to much when all they want is some time with them and to get their questions answered.
How can we create a healthy balance between television and Internet use and other household and community activities for ourselves and our children? One of the ways to go is to make sure that content is child friendly.
The earlier we think this issue out the better, else , like The Most Rev Palmer –Buckle said, we will build higher walls with high voltage electric barb wire fences hemming in these new robbers and our children and the results may not be too pleasant for us as a society with set values and norms.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Agbogbloshie Market: Sitting on a time bomb of filth
By Doreen Allotey
The sequel to a bad story often has a happy ending. Unfortunately in the case of the Agbogbloshie market located in Central Accra, it is a worsening scenario about which buyers must beware.
But this market performs such a critical role in the food distribution chain of the people of Accra that no effort must be spared to bring the conditions there to acceptable standards. Agbogbloshie is the supply point of most foodstuffs sold in the satellite markets of the city and only few households can claim not to prepare food sourced directly or indirectly from this market.
In an earlier article published in the Daily Graphic of September 17 this year with the headline “Agbogbloshie Market: The good, the bad and the ugly” a number of observations and recommendations were made.
One of them was that the insanitary conditions in the market posed a serious health problem to customers and consumers and that the city authorities should take serious steps to improve conditions in the market.
It was recommended also that there should be regular visits by food inspectors and that the displaying of food items such as oranges, plantains etc. on the bare floor should be prohibited . It was recommended that the Ghana Standards Board should re-introduce to the women, education on the advantages of weights and measures as an alternative to tins like the olonka and baskets which are stuffed with all manner of things.
Thankfully, the Accra Metropolitan Authority responded by announcing a decongestion exercise that was to involve the demolition of illegal structures. Others like the Makola and Kaneshie markets where the situation is virtually the same were to benefit from similar decongestion exercises. The decongestion was to be a general one to bring some order and sanity in the city. Unfortunately, the exercise was met with a storm of protests from the market vendors. Women in the Kaneshie market were even alleged to have chased the Chief executive Officer of the AMA, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, away from the market with urine! Worse still, it is obvious that the political will to continue with the exercise is absent.
The Food and Drugs Board also run a workshop on food safety for food vendors in the market. FDB also plans to certify food vendors in the market by 2011.
I went back to the market to observe if there had been an improvement after the actions taken by the AMA and FDB. The situation is the same.
Of much concern is the sale of exposed semi-processed powdered food items such as gari, kokonte and sugar in the current environment of the dusty harmattan weather.
With some training on sampling from the FDB and some coaching from , a food safety consultancy, I took some random sterile samples of gari, kokonte and sugar at the market in triplicates.
The samples were sent to a food and beverage laboratory where each sample was tested.
The results were astounding. Except sugar which did not show infection for all its samples, gari and kokonte showed very heavy infection of bacteria and fungi in the form of moulds.
“Some of the growths would suggest the presence of Aspergilus species that produce chemicals called toxins which can cause food poisoning”, Mr George Berko, the microbiologist who worked on the samples said.
On the evidence of the undesirable habits that persist and the quality of exposed food products, food consumers are at risk. For a food item such as gari that can be eaten cold in the form of “soakings” the risk of food poisoning is real.
According to Mr Berko, “the heat of cooking may kill the microbes but the danger is that toxins are not eliminated by heat and do stay in the food even after cooking.” Indeed, there have been instances when people suffered from food poisoning after a meal of kokonte.
One wonders why such products are not packaged as we see them displayed on supermarket shelves. It is also not clear what type of education FDB carried out in the market. The sight of women selling semi-processed food items with their heads uncovered was common. Any stray piece of hair in food could cause allergy in consumers, a condition or illness shown as itching, swelling and general nausea.
In the course of enquiries about food safety it was not clear which regulatory body was responsible for laying down the standards of items sold in the market. Is it the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) GSB or Food and Drugs Board (FDB)? In one moment there was a statement like, “That’s not our responsibility; go to FDB” from GSB. At another moment we are told, “Go to GSB; it is their responsibility”
Therefore on FDB’s intention to certify food vendors, one wonders on whose standards the certification will be based. In view of the uncertainty that seems to exist between GSB and FDB on responsibilities, collaboration between the two institutions is necessary in laying down standards.
Specialists at NAMS have stressed that the standards must include the procedures on how the food is packaged and the level of sanitation of the surroundings and the health status of the vendors.
Education to the vendors must be on-going and not a one-day affair and vendors who will be found to be infringing the food safety laws must be banned from the market.
The earlier recommendations of September 17, 2009 are still valid.
The AMA must not only demolish unauthorised structures but actually regulate the number of vendors. It appears that AMA is only too eager to collect tolls from anybody desiring to sell in this market.
The defence the vendors put up during any decongestion exercise is, “We have every right to sell here because we pay daily tolls. We don’t have anywhere to go.” Congestion is about structures and human numbers. The AMA should therefore regulate numbers through licensing.
For a comprehensive research, it is recommended that a more rigorous survey be carried out on semi-processed food items in our markets as a basis for the intended certification of the vendors.
It is further recommended that food packaging standards, once instituted, be enforced.
The role that Agbogbloshie, and indeed any market, plays in our life are so important that standards and hygiene cannot be compromised.
The sequel to a bad story often has a happy ending. Unfortunately in the case of the Agbogbloshie market located in Central Accra, it is a worsening scenario about which buyers must beware.
But this market performs such a critical role in the food distribution chain of the people of Accra that no effort must be spared to bring the conditions there to acceptable standards. Agbogbloshie is the supply point of most foodstuffs sold in the satellite markets of the city and only few households can claim not to prepare food sourced directly or indirectly from this market.
In an earlier article published in the Daily Graphic of September 17 this year with the headline “Agbogbloshie Market: The good, the bad and the ugly” a number of observations and recommendations were made.
One of them was that the insanitary conditions in the market posed a serious health problem to customers and consumers and that the city authorities should take serious steps to improve conditions in the market.
It was recommended also that there should be regular visits by food inspectors and that the displaying of food items such as oranges, plantains etc. on the bare floor should be prohibited . It was recommended that the Ghana Standards Board should re-introduce to the women, education on the advantages of weights and measures as an alternative to tins like the olonka and baskets which are stuffed with all manner of things.
Thankfully, the Accra Metropolitan Authority responded by announcing a decongestion exercise that was to involve the demolition of illegal structures. Others like the Makola and Kaneshie markets where the situation is virtually the same were to benefit from similar decongestion exercises. The decongestion was to be a general one to bring some order and sanity in the city. Unfortunately, the exercise was met with a storm of protests from the market vendors. Women in the Kaneshie market were even alleged to have chased the Chief executive Officer of the AMA, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, away from the market with urine! Worse still, it is obvious that the political will to continue with the exercise is absent.
The Food and Drugs Board also run a workshop on food safety for food vendors in the market. FDB also plans to certify food vendors in the market by 2011.
I went back to the market to observe if there had been an improvement after the actions taken by the AMA and FDB. The situation is the same.
Of much concern is the sale of exposed semi-processed powdered food items such as gari, kokonte and sugar in the current environment of the dusty harmattan weather.
With some training on sampling from the FDB and some coaching from , a food safety consultancy, I took some random sterile samples of gari, kokonte and sugar at the market in triplicates.
The samples were sent to a food and beverage laboratory where each sample was tested.
The results were astounding. Except sugar which did not show infection for all its samples, gari and kokonte showed very heavy infection of bacteria and fungi in the form of moulds.
“Some of the growths would suggest the presence of Aspergilus species that produce chemicals called toxins which can cause food poisoning”, Mr George Berko, the microbiologist who worked on the samples said.
On the evidence of the undesirable habits that persist and the quality of exposed food products, food consumers are at risk. For a food item such as gari that can be eaten cold in the form of “soakings” the risk of food poisoning is real.
According to Mr Berko, “the heat of cooking may kill the microbes but the danger is that toxins are not eliminated by heat and do stay in the food even after cooking.” Indeed, there have been instances when people suffered from food poisoning after a meal of kokonte.
One wonders why such products are not packaged as we see them displayed on supermarket shelves. It is also not clear what type of education FDB carried out in the market. The sight of women selling semi-processed food items with their heads uncovered was common. Any stray piece of hair in food could cause allergy in consumers, a condition or illness shown as itching, swelling and general nausea.
In the course of enquiries about food safety it was not clear which regulatory body was responsible for laying down the standards of items sold in the market. Is it the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) GSB or Food and Drugs Board (FDB)? In one moment there was a statement like, “That’s not our responsibility; go to FDB” from GSB. At another moment we are told, “Go to GSB; it is their responsibility”
Therefore on FDB’s intention to certify food vendors, one wonders on whose standards the certification will be based. In view of the uncertainty that seems to exist between GSB and FDB on responsibilities, collaboration between the two institutions is necessary in laying down standards.
Specialists at NAMS have stressed that the standards must include the procedures on how the food is packaged and the level of sanitation of the surroundings and the health status of the vendors.
Education to the vendors must be on-going and not a one-day affair and vendors who will be found to be infringing the food safety laws must be banned from the market.
The earlier recommendations of September 17, 2009 are still valid.
The AMA must not only demolish unauthorised structures but actually regulate the number of vendors. It appears that AMA is only too eager to collect tolls from anybody desiring to sell in this market.
The defence the vendors put up during any decongestion exercise is, “We have every right to sell here because we pay daily tolls. We don’t have anywhere to go.” Congestion is about structures and human numbers. The AMA should therefore regulate numbers through licensing.
For a comprehensive research, it is recommended that a more rigorous survey be carried out on semi-processed food items in our markets as a basis for the intended certification of the vendors.
It is further recommended that food packaging standards, once instituted, be enforced.
The role that Agbogbloshie, and indeed any market, plays in our life are so important that standards and hygiene cannot be compromised.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Responding to social calls and productivity — Balancing the act
By Doreen Allotey
It is a normal Monday morning and workers are busy meandering through traffic to get to their offices so they can justify their visit to the bank at the end of the month.
It has been a busy weekend for most of them — socially. For some, Friday night was a pal's bachelors night party and anybody who has ever attended one of those nights knows what happens there. Saturday morning, they had to dash to the burial service of a classmates' mother, returned on time for a wedding service and ended up at the night club later in the night. Some virtually crawled home at dawn and those who were sloshed, slumped into bed with their clothes and shoes on.
Then, Sunday morning started with church service, drifted into an omutuo session in the afternoon and some visits going way into the evening and probably some all-night-church services.
Strange thing is, no matter how long one practices this routine, one really never gets used to it and begins the Monday feeling like an armed robber who has just escaped the wrath of an angry mob who wanted to lynch him. But one does all these in conformity to societal demands and norms. As the saying goes, if you have several farms you must tend them all.
The scenario painted above depicts the weekend routine of many workers. It even becomes more exacting when one has to travel many kilometres outside one’s place of abode to attend to these social calls. I have had the misfortune of attending funerals and weddings as far as Tumu and Takoradi on different occasions. Apart from the physical exhaustion, the impact on the already over-stretched pocket is obvious, especially in these days of high fuel accommodation and feeding costs, against the background of a global recession which some choose to call financial crunch where workers who used to be paid at the middle of the month now have a long agonising wait into the next month.
But what are friends and colleagues for, if not to be around in our moments of joy or sorrow? Who really wants a fair weather friend? Yet, these things take a nagging toll on our collective productivity as a work force. Of what use is a worker when he or she reports to work at the beginning of the week feeling very weak? The productivity of such a person by Wednesday can be anybody's guess. No wonder there is a high incidence of workers reporting sick,( actually nursing hangovers), playing truancy, malingering and absenteeism. For some it has become a stock-in-trade.
How then do we balance the equation? Will you respond to these social calls and go to work tired or rest over the weekend, go to work rejuvenated but be in the bad books of friends and relatives? Especially those friends who have been or will be there to hold you up when you are falling?
I think the way to go is to balance the act. You cannot respond to all social calls. Make a list according to priority and the level of friendship and attend to social calls according to this priority. Save sometime for yourself and take a little rest. The body needs rest to remain productive . And productivity justifies the pay cheque at the end of the month.
It is a normal Monday morning and workers are busy meandering through traffic to get to their offices so they can justify their visit to the bank at the end of the month.
It has been a busy weekend for most of them — socially. For some, Friday night was a pal's bachelors night party and anybody who has ever attended one of those nights knows what happens there. Saturday morning, they had to dash to the burial service of a classmates' mother, returned on time for a wedding service and ended up at the night club later in the night. Some virtually crawled home at dawn and those who were sloshed, slumped into bed with their clothes and shoes on.
Then, Sunday morning started with church service, drifted into an omutuo session in the afternoon and some visits going way into the evening and probably some all-night-church services.
Strange thing is, no matter how long one practices this routine, one really never gets used to it and begins the Monday feeling like an armed robber who has just escaped the wrath of an angry mob who wanted to lynch him. But one does all these in conformity to societal demands and norms. As the saying goes, if you have several farms you must tend them all.
The scenario painted above depicts the weekend routine of many workers. It even becomes more exacting when one has to travel many kilometres outside one’s place of abode to attend to these social calls. I have had the misfortune of attending funerals and weddings as far as Tumu and Takoradi on different occasions. Apart from the physical exhaustion, the impact on the already over-stretched pocket is obvious, especially in these days of high fuel accommodation and feeding costs, against the background of a global recession which some choose to call financial crunch where workers who used to be paid at the middle of the month now have a long agonising wait into the next month.
But what are friends and colleagues for, if not to be around in our moments of joy or sorrow? Who really wants a fair weather friend? Yet, these things take a nagging toll on our collective productivity as a work force. Of what use is a worker when he or she reports to work at the beginning of the week feeling very weak? The productivity of such a person by Wednesday can be anybody's guess. No wonder there is a high incidence of workers reporting sick,( actually nursing hangovers), playing truancy, malingering and absenteeism. For some it has become a stock-in-trade.
How then do we balance the equation? Will you respond to these social calls and go to work tired or rest over the weekend, go to work rejuvenated but be in the bad books of friends and relatives? Especially those friends who have been or will be there to hold you up when you are falling?
I think the way to go is to balance the act. You cannot respond to all social calls. Make a list according to priority and the level of friendship and attend to social calls according to this priority. Save sometime for yourself and take a little rest. The body needs rest to remain productive . And productivity justifies the pay cheque at the end of the month.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Mental health — Shifting focus from institutionalised care
By Doreen Allotey
Mental illness presents one of the most challenging moments that could confront a family. While the direct effects are obviously on the victim, its impact on the family as a whole is equally unpleasant.
The obvious ones are the high cost of seeking cure for a loved one and the stigmatisation of the entire family. Stories are told of how members of certain families are shunned by prospective suitors for the simple reason that some great uncle or auntie once suffered from a mental condition .
Perhaps, it is for this reason that most families, whether rich or poor would leave no stone unturned in their bid to seek cure for a mentally ill relative.
According to Dr Akwasi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, some of the common measures such families resort to include visiting prayer camps, hiding the patient in a room from the public eye (sometimes in chains) or sending the patient to a psychiatric hospital where they plead with the psychiatrist to keep him/her for a very long time. Even years after these patients have been treated and recovered, some relatives are just reluctant to admit them back into their homes and the patient is abandoned at the hospital.
Dr Osei has been dissatisfied with this situation which he describes as disturbing, and continues to appeal to families to come for their relatives who have recovered from the psychiatric hospitals.
The approach adopted in treating or maltreating the mentally ill is often informed by beliefs. Some of these beliefs are based on assumptions or the perception that mental illness is a spiritual ailment, a mystery and a curse. Most importantly also there is the lack of knowledge on the part of society that there is a scientific explanation for mental illness and that mental disorders can be medically and socially managed.
Though different methods are adopted to handle the situation, the common thread running through these thoughts seem to be, keeping the patient away from the community where he /she is thought to be a nuisance. This attitude has worsened the plight of the mentally ill in Ghana and contributed to their worsening stigmatisation. The stigmatisation is so rife that even health workers involved in the management of mental illness are also roped in and do not escape stigmatisation as one retired mental health nurse stated.
But the mentally ill are part of us, our society and most of us stand the risk of suffering from one mental disorder or the other in our lifetime.
According to Dr Osei, WHO estimates that as of 2005, there were 2.166million Ghanaians with mild to moderate mental illness with another 650,000 having severe forms of mental illness.
Accoding to him, “These are WHO estimates, based on about 10 per cent of every population world-wide having some form of mental illness”.
October 10 was World Mental Health Day, a day set aside by the World Health Organisation to draw attention to issues of mental health and the need to address them.
The theme for this year’s celebration is: Mental Health in Primary care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health.
It was intended to address the continuing need to “make mental health a global priority and stress the all too often neglected fact that mental health is an integral element of every individual’s overall health and well-being.
It is in line with the WHO’s definition of Health as “ A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
The World Mental Health Day highlighted the opportunities and the challenges that integrating mental health services into the primary health care delivery system will present to people living with mental disorders and poor mental health, their families, caregivers and healthier professionals.
As explained by Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, for centuries, the illness of the mind has been treated as a social issue that is separate from any physical health issue. But mental health disorders do not happen in isolation and they frequently occur in relation to or alongside other medical conditions and as a response to many life situations. Examples of such conditions are heart disease, diabetes, cancer and neurological disorders.
It has been established that an individual’s medical issues and life circumstances do not affect just one area of the body. The way to go, therefore, in treating the individuals’ health is adopting a holistic and integrated manner to achieve positive outcomes.
In Ghana , the theme for this year’s celebration is very appropriate in view of the shift in focus from institutionalised care of the mentally ill to the integration of mental health with general healthcare at each level in the health system and to multi-sectoral liaison with the education, social welfare , criminal justice and non-governmental systems.
These are contained in the draft Mental Health Bill currently receiving attention at the Attorney General’s Department.
This shift in policy has also given rise to calls from various stockholders for the passage of a new mental health bill, which among other things, provides for the establishment of a Mental Health Authority which will have as its aim, the promotion of mental health and provision of humane care in a least restrictive environment. The authority is to provide mental health services at the primary healthcare level, among others.
Indeed Mental Healthcare in Ghana has come a long way from the 1888 Lunatic Asylum Ordinance, Cap 79, which became law and allowed custodial care for the mentally ill. This saw the building of the first asylum in 1906 at Asylum Down in Accra to decongest the prison where arrested mentally ill people were kept.
The ordinance remained in force with little modification until the Mental Health Act of 1972, (NCRD 30) was enacted. NRCD 30 focused mainly on institutional care, but was an improvement on the ordinance because it also took account of the patient, the property of the patient and voluntary treatment. NRCD 30 has never been amended even though attempts were made to revise it in 1996.
So from a situation where the mentally ill were locked up in an institution, a number of stakeholders have been at the forefront of advocating the passage of the bill into law because it seeks to improve the plight of the mentally ill in our society.
The mentally ill have suffered abuse of their rights as human beings, been stigmatised, and to seek their welfare, there is the need for the bill to be passed into law because that, it is hoped, will encourage the early identification and prompt treatment of mental disorder at the primary care level and the district general hospital level. This in turn will discourage admission to the three state-run psychiatric institutions which are often far from most homes and, therefore, difficult and expensive for families to visit regularly.
BasicNeeds Ghana is a non-governmental organisation which has been collaborating with various government institutions in seeking the welfare of mentally ill patients and pushing for the passage of the mental health bill into law.
This organisation focuses on initiatives in mental health and development.
According to the Country Programme Manager of BasicNeeds, Mr Badimak Peter Yaro, the organisation has been working to bring about a lasting change in the lives of mentally ill people around the world.
Mr Yaro explains that in Ghana, BasicNeeds recognised that the mentally ill were stigmatised by their local communities and had become marginalised as a result.
He said it was very difficult for the mentally ill to find employment, which therefore placed an enormous financial burden on their benefactors.
Mr Yaro explained that the lack of money often prevented the mentally ill from accessing treatment, and that further worsened their illness and increased stress on caretakers.
The organisation has programmes in both Accra and northern Ghana. It also carries out research in mental health and develops mental health policies in favour of people with mental illness.
As a development-oriented organisation, BasicNeeds’s approach has always emphasised community treatment and rehabilitation.
Through its operations, BasicNeeds addresses not only issues of treatment and rehabilitation which the global awareness theme for the 2009 World Mental Health Day campaign on enhancing treatment emphasises, but also the fundamental issues of human rights denial and violations that mentally ill people and their carers are subjected to.
The BasicNeeds Ghana programme began in 2002 with a pilot project in northern Ghana which focussed on access to treatment and sustainable livelihood programmes through partnerships with the Mental Health Unit and community-based organisations.
In all, 16,691 people with mental disorders have benefited from BasicNeeds Ghana’s activities since its inception.
Added to this, 16,024 people with mental disorders receive regular psychiatric treatment by attending outreach clinics organised quarterly in four sub-metros in Accra, namely Ashiedu Keteke, Ablekuma, Okaikoi and Ayawaso and in the three northern regions.
The work of BasicNeeds has resulted in the stabilisation of 14,208 people with mental disorders, out of which 12,257 are engaged in productive work.
The organisation has financially assisted or provided equipment for 3,603 of such people to engage in self-employment that enables them to earn some income.
It has been organising workshops for media personnel in Ghana, aimed at providing information on mental illness, with the view to making mental health issues better understood and enable them cover and report on mental health and development-related issues.
To discourage stigmatisation, bring some relief to families of the mentally ill and improve care for the mentally ill, the passage of the Mental Health Bill seems to be the way out.
Mental illness presents one of the most challenging moments that could confront a family. While the direct effects are obviously on the victim, its impact on the family as a whole is equally unpleasant.
The obvious ones are the high cost of seeking cure for a loved one and the stigmatisation of the entire family. Stories are told of how members of certain families are shunned by prospective suitors for the simple reason that some great uncle or auntie once suffered from a mental condition .
Perhaps, it is for this reason that most families, whether rich or poor would leave no stone unturned in their bid to seek cure for a mentally ill relative.
According to Dr Akwasi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, some of the common measures such families resort to include visiting prayer camps, hiding the patient in a room from the public eye (sometimes in chains) or sending the patient to a psychiatric hospital where they plead with the psychiatrist to keep him/her for a very long time. Even years after these patients have been treated and recovered, some relatives are just reluctant to admit them back into their homes and the patient is abandoned at the hospital.
Dr Osei has been dissatisfied with this situation which he describes as disturbing, and continues to appeal to families to come for their relatives who have recovered from the psychiatric hospitals.
The approach adopted in treating or maltreating the mentally ill is often informed by beliefs. Some of these beliefs are based on assumptions or the perception that mental illness is a spiritual ailment, a mystery and a curse. Most importantly also there is the lack of knowledge on the part of society that there is a scientific explanation for mental illness and that mental disorders can be medically and socially managed.
Though different methods are adopted to handle the situation, the common thread running through these thoughts seem to be, keeping the patient away from the community where he /she is thought to be a nuisance. This attitude has worsened the plight of the mentally ill in Ghana and contributed to their worsening stigmatisation. The stigmatisation is so rife that even health workers involved in the management of mental illness are also roped in and do not escape stigmatisation as one retired mental health nurse stated.
But the mentally ill are part of us, our society and most of us stand the risk of suffering from one mental disorder or the other in our lifetime.
According to Dr Osei, WHO estimates that as of 2005, there were 2.166million Ghanaians with mild to moderate mental illness with another 650,000 having severe forms of mental illness.
Accoding to him, “These are WHO estimates, based on about 10 per cent of every population world-wide having some form of mental illness”.
October 10 was World Mental Health Day, a day set aside by the World Health Organisation to draw attention to issues of mental health and the need to address them.
The theme for this year’s celebration is: Mental Health in Primary care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health.
It was intended to address the continuing need to “make mental health a global priority and stress the all too often neglected fact that mental health is an integral element of every individual’s overall health and well-being.
It is in line with the WHO’s definition of Health as “ A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
The World Mental Health Day highlighted the opportunities and the challenges that integrating mental health services into the primary health care delivery system will present to people living with mental disorders and poor mental health, their families, caregivers and healthier professionals.
As explained by Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, for centuries, the illness of the mind has been treated as a social issue that is separate from any physical health issue. But mental health disorders do not happen in isolation and they frequently occur in relation to or alongside other medical conditions and as a response to many life situations. Examples of such conditions are heart disease, diabetes, cancer and neurological disorders.
It has been established that an individual’s medical issues and life circumstances do not affect just one area of the body. The way to go, therefore, in treating the individuals’ health is adopting a holistic and integrated manner to achieve positive outcomes.
In Ghana , the theme for this year’s celebration is very appropriate in view of the shift in focus from institutionalised care of the mentally ill to the integration of mental health with general healthcare at each level in the health system and to multi-sectoral liaison with the education, social welfare , criminal justice and non-governmental systems.
These are contained in the draft Mental Health Bill currently receiving attention at the Attorney General’s Department.
This shift in policy has also given rise to calls from various stockholders for the passage of a new mental health bill, which among other things, provides for the establishment of a Mental Health Authority which will have as its aim, the promotion of mental health and provision of humane care in a least restrictive environment. The authority is to provide mental health services at the primary healthcare level, among others.
Indeed Mental Healthcare in Ghana has come a long way from the 1888 Lunatic Asylum Ordinance, Cap 79, which became law and allowed custodial care for the mentally ill. This saw the building of the first asylum in 1906 at Asylum Down in Accra to decongest the prison where arrested mentally ill people were kept.
The ordinance remained in force with little modification until the Mental Health Act of 1972, (NCRD 30) was enacted. NRCD 30 focused mainly on institutional care, but was an improvement on the ordinance because it also took account of the patient, the property of the patient and voluntary treatment. NRCD 30 has never been amended even though attempts were made to revise it in 1996.
So from a situation where the mentally ill were locked up in an institution, a number of stakeholders have been at the forefront of advocating the passage of the bill into law because it seeks to improve the plight of the mentally ill in our society.
The mentally ill have suffered abuse of their rights as human beings, been stigmatised, and to seek their welfare, there is the need for the bill to be passed into law because that, it is hoped, will encourage the early identification and prompt treatment of mental disorder at the primary care level and the district general hospital level. This in turn will discourage admission to the three state-run psychiatric institutions which are often far from most homes and, therefore, difficult and expensive for families to visit regularly.
BasicNeeds Ghana is a non-governmental organisation which has been collaborating with various government institutions in seeking the welfare of mentally ill patients and pushing for the passage of the mental health bill into law.
This organisation focuses on initiatives in mental health and development.
According to the Country Programme Manager of BasicNeeds, Mr Badimak Peter Yaro, the organisation has been working to bring about a lasting change in the lives of mentally ill people around the world.
Mr Yaro explains that in Ghana, BasicNeeds recognised that the mentally ill were stigmatised by their local communities and had become marginalised as a result.
He said it was very difficult for the mentally ill to find employment, which therefore placed an enormous financial burden on their benefactors.
Mr Yaro explained that the lack of money often prevented the mentally ill from accessing treatment, and that further worsened their illness and increased stress on caretakers.
The organisation has programmes in both Accra and northern Ghana. It also carries out research in mental health and develops mental health policies in favour of people with mental illness.
As a development-oriented organisation, BasicNeeds’s approach has always emphasised community treatment and rehabilitation.
Through its operations, BasicNeeds addresses not only issues of treatment and rehabilitation which the global awareness theme for the 2009 World Mental Health Day campaign on enhancing treatment emphasises, but also the fundamental issues of human rights denial and violations that mentally ill people and their carers are subjected to.
The BasicNeeds Ghana programme began in 2002 with a pilot project in northern Ghana which focussed on access to treatment and sustainable livelihood programmes through partnerships with the Mental Health Unit and community-based organisations.
In all, 16,691 people with mental disorders have benefited from BasicNeeds Ghana’s activities since its inception.
Added to this, 16,024 people with mental disorders receive regular psychiatric treatment by attending outreach clinics organised quarterly in four sub-metros in Accra, namely Ashiedu Keteke, Ablekuma, Okaikoi and Ayawaso and in the three northern regions.
The work of BasicNeeds has resulted in the stabilisation of 14,208 people with mental disorders, out of which 12,257 are engaged in productive work.
The organisation has financially assisted or provided equipment for 3,603 of such people to engage in self-employment that enables them to earn some income.
It has been organising workshops for media personnel in Ghana, aimed at providing information on mental illness, with the view to making mental health issues better understood and enable them cover and report on mental health and development-related issues.
To discourage stigmatisation, bring some relief to families of the mentally ill and improve care for the mentally ill, the passage of the Mental Health Bill seems to be the way out.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Consumer protection in Ghana — who cares?
By Doreen Allotey
MANY of us are so familiar with the popular notice posted in some shops which boldly states : Goods sold are not returnable, to the extent that we seem to take it as one of the principles in commerce.
The notice is courageously displayed in all manner of shops — big, small, local or foreign owned. And it comes with no qualification. The vendor would not take back a product purchased even if the flaw is detected immediately after the purchase.
We live in a society where the majority of us do not know our rights as consumers. As a result, we are always short-changed or cheated. Otherwise how can this notice — goods sold are not returnable— which presupposes that the vendor knows that there is a high probability that the goods on sale may not meet the customers’ satisfaction and may be returned, be allowed to stay!
The cheating of consumers does not only have to do with the purchase of goods; it extends to the provision of unsatisfactory services— services provided by individuals, institutions and public corporations including our hospitals.
This phenomenon has invariably affected our quality of life as a people since we do not get value for our money. The most worrisome part of it is the effect of such attitude on our health, especially because of fake drugs, wrong labelling, no labelling at all and ambiguous expiry dates. It is easy to know when unfair pricing, in fact obscene overpricing, has taken place. One only needs to walk one block away from a shop to find the same item manufactured by the same supplier commanding markedly different prices.
In some instances the vendor will sell at more than 100 per cent mark-up with the mentality that the seller may be lucky to meet a consumer who may be deceived.
In our local markets, this display of unfair treatment by traders who refuse to replace defective products can be carried to the extreme. They may, according to how they feel, grudgingly give you a replacement after they have tossed you back and forth. If you try to exchange an item in the morning, the excuse is that if the item is exchanged all customers will “misbehave” towards them that day.
Consumers suffer from many other unjust practices. A typical example is when traders dishonestly pass inferior products off as originals. The quality of consumer items with international brand names such as Rolex and Pierre Cardin and some designer goods such as Fendi, Dolce and Gabbana (D&G) which are imported from the Far East cannot be assured. Yet the vendor would not explain to the ignorant consumer issues about durability, reliability and even functionality. Vendors are also fond of making unsubstantiated claims about their wares. They are not alone in this. Even some reputable manufacturers and distributors of medicinal preparations and food products exaggerate the benefits one can derive from the use of their products. These benefits have never been proven but by repeatedly stating the “goodness” through advertisements and promotions the consumer is swayed into buying such items.
The safety of items, especially of products that are consumed and electrical gadgets such as kitchen equipment is important to all households. That is why they must be adequately labelled. For food items and drugs, the ingredients and date by which they should have been consumed should be stated clearly in a language that the consumer understands.
In the case of gadgets, an instructional manual directing/explaining their operations must be provided. But how many times are these conditions adhered to? Gadgets are sold without a competent technician demonstrating their use to the customer. There are many other examples where the customer is blatantly cheated. Pricing of utilities such as electricity, water and telephone services are the most common. Customers have the perception that the formula for calculating the electricity bill which households receive is a fraud. It contains an element termed “street lighting” which is charged irrespective of the fact that many streets are in perpetual darkness. Worst of all is the frequent power fluctuations causing damage to equipment and spoiling food items being kept in freezers. The story about water is a vexatious one. Customers who continuously have dry taps are given bills. Mobile networks charge and provide poor connectivity yet this is becoming acceptable. The question is : What consequences do the providers suffer?
To protect the consumer, most governments the world over have set up regulatory bodies to protect the interests of consumers and to ensure that the standards and the ethics of a particular sector are maintained. Thus, there used to be the Prices and Incomes Board to regulate prices. What has caused the demise of this body? There are some regulatory authorities in the country. These include the Public Regulatory Commission (PURC), the Energy Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana Tourist Board, Food and Drugs Board, National Petroleum Authority and Forestry Commission.
The Ghana Standards Board ensures standards for products which have its certification mark, but what about others?
The hard fact remains that there is no real consumer protection in the country. As a result, unsatisfied consumers resort to the letters columns of newspapers to make complaints hoping that they would get some redress. Consumer protection societies which operate on the same principles as civil societies are very strong in some advanced countries. They form the front-line vanguard for protecting consumer rights. Attempts were made about a decade ago with the collaboration of the Ghana Standards Board, to form a Ghana Consumer Society . Once a while mention is made in the media of this civil organisation. It is, however, difficult to see what impact it has made so far in pursuing cases.
In an interview, the Executive Director of the Ghana Standards Board, Mr Adu G. Darkwa, said that the board had been carrying out programmes aimed at creating consumer awareness on things to look out for in detecting goods of questionable character.
He said the board was currently arranging with tertiary institutions, a programme to teach students “ standards” in various disciplines before they graduate.
He explained that standards often provided the basis for national legislation and certification schemes and could, therefore, be effective tools in consumer protection but he made it clear that the board had no mandate to prosecute.
An American civil lawyer called Ralph Nader is usually given credit for raising consumer awareness in America and held as an icon. His efforts have culminated in Consumer Law which is run as a course in higher institutions to the degree level. Some Ghanaian lawyers may have pursued this course but how has that contributed to consumer awareness in this country?
Enquiries about the Ghana Consumer Protection Society from a man who used to be a very active member in the mid-1990s resulted in the answer : " I have lost touch". If it still exists, Ghanaians need it more than ever before since a free market has made the country the dumping site for all kinds of goods, including those of very doubtful character, even from a sheer glimpse of its features.
The government, through its institutions is supposed to play a lead role in protecting consumers through laws, education and advocacy.
The need to encourage strong consumer awareness is now; because our markets are inundated with all sorts of goods .There are real challenges in the marketplace.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry planned a Trade Sector Support programme which was to last from 2006 to 2010. In the executive summary of the programme document, it is spelt out, among other things, the need for consumer protection.
The document states that the purpose of such a consumer protection project is “to create an environment that affords protection to consumers and enhances consumer welfare”.
It further states that to ensure this requires certain outputs which have been outlined as the development of a consumer protection policy, the enactment of a framework law on consumer protection, the establishment of a consumer protection authority and mechanisms and instruments for delivering speedy redress.
Therefore under this project was to be a consumer protection policy and framework law which will lead to the establishment of a Consumer Protection Authority including small claims courts to facilitate consumer redress.
This project has not been undertaken, leaving the consumer in a current state of helplessness.
As we celebrate World Tourism Week, it is obvious that the ministry needs to rededicate itself to this project. Ghanaian consumers and tourists need to be protected.
People are simply taking the rights of consumers for granted. But for now, how about a successfully prosecuted and publicised case of consumer rights abuse in court? That would definitely serve as some form of awareness. It looks like consumers are going to be seeing the notice— Goods once sold are not returnable — for a long time more and the consumer will continue to be given a raw deal. This situation definitely needs to change.
MANY of us are so familiar with the popular notice posted in some shops which boldly states : Goods sold are not returnable, to the extent that we seem to take it as one of the principles in commerce.
The notice is courageously displayed in all manner of shops — big, small, local or foreign owned. And it comes with no qualification. The vendor would not take back a product purchased even if the flaw is detected immediately after the purchase.
We live in a society where the majority of us do not know our rights as consumers. As a result, we are always short-changed or cheated. Otherwise how can this notice — goods sold are not returnable— which presupposes that the vendor knows that there is a high probability that the goods on sale may not meet the customers’ satisfaction and may be returned, be allowed to stay!
The cheating of consumers does not only have to do with the purchase of goods; it extends to the provision of unsatisfactory services— services provided by individuals, institutions and public corporations including our hospitals.
This phenomenon has invariably affected our quality of life as a people since we do not get value for our money. The most worrisome part of it is the effect of such attitude on our health, especially because of fake drugs, wrong labelling, no labelling at all and ambiguous expiry dates. It is easy to know when unfair pricing, in fact obscene overpricing, has taken place. One only needs to walk one block away from a shop to find the same item manufactured by the same supplier commanding markedly different prices.
In some instances the vendor will sell at more than 100 per cent mark-up with the mentality that the seller may be lucky to meet a consumer who may be deceived.
In our local markets, this display of unfair treatment by traders who refuse to replace defective products can be carried to the extreme. They may, according to how they feel, grudgingly give you a replacement after they have tossed you back and forth. If you try to exchange an item in the morning, the excuse is that if the item is exchanged all customers will “misbehave” towards them that day.
Consumers suffer from many other unjust practices. A typical example is when traders dishonestly pass inferior products off as originals. The quality of consumer items with international brand names such as Rolex and Pierre Cardin and some designer goods such as Fendi, Dolce and Gabbana (D&G) which are imported from the Far East cannot be assured. Yet the vendor would not explain to the ignorant consumer issues about durability, reliability and even functionality. Vendors are also fond of making unsubstantiated claims about their wares. They are not alone in this. Even some reputable manufacturers and distributors of medicinal preparations and food products exaggerate the benefits one can derive from the use of their products. These benefits have never been proven but by repeatedly stating the “goodness” through advertisements and promotions the consumer is swayed into buying such items.
The safety of items, especially of products that are consumed and electrical gadgets such as kitchen equipment is important to all households. That is why they must be adequately labelled. For food items and drugs, the ingredients and date by which they should have been consumed should be stated clearly in a language that the consumer understands.
In the case of gadgets, an instructional manual directing/explaining their operations must be provided. But how many times are these conditions adhered to? Gadgets are sold without a competent technician demonstrating their use to the customer. There are many other examples where the customer is blatantly cheated. Pricing of utilities such as electricity, water and telephone services are the most common. Customers have the perception that the formula for calculating the electricity bill which households receive is a fraud. It contains an element termed “street lighting” which is charged irrespective of the fact that many streets are in perpetual darkness. Worst of all is the frequent power fluctuations causing damage to equipment and spoiling food items being kept in freezers. The story about water is a vexatious one. Customers who continuously have dry taps are given bills. Mobile networks charge and provide poor connectivity yet this is becoming acceptable. The question is : What consequences do the providers suffer?
To protect the consumer, most governments the world over have set up regulatory bodies to protect the interests of consumers and to ensure that the standards and the ethics of a particular sector are maintained. Thus, there used to be the Prices and Incomes Board to regulate prices. What has caused the demise of this body? There are some regulatory authorities in the country. These include the Public Regulatory Commission (PURC), the Energy Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana Tourist Board, Food and Drugs Board, National Petroleum Authority and Forestry Commission.
The Ghana Standards Board ensures standards for products which have its certification mark, but what about others?
The hard fact remains that there is no real consumer protection in the country. As a result, unsatisfied consumers resort to the letters columns of newspapers to make complaints hoping that they would get some redress. Consumer protection societies which operate on the same principles as civil societies are very strong in some advanced countries. They form the front-line vanguard for protecting consumer rights. Attempts were made about a decade ago with the collaboration of the Ghana Standards Board, to form a Ghana Consumer Society . Once a while mention is made in the media of this civil organisation. It is, however, difficult to see what impact it has made so far in pursuing cases.
In an interview, the Executive Director of the Ghana Standards Board, Mr Adu G. Darkwa, said that the board had been carrying out programmes aimed at creating consumer awareness on things to look out for in detecting goods of questionable character.
He said the board was currently arranging with tertiary institutions, a programme to teach students “ standards” in various disciplines before they graduate.
He explained that standards often provided the basis for national legislation and certification schemes and could, therefore, be effective tools in consumer protection but he made it clear that the board had no mandate to prosecute.
An American civil lawyer called Ralph Nader is usually given credit for raising consumer awareness in America and held as an icon. His efforts have culminated in Consumer Law which is run as a course in higher institutions to the degree level. Some Ghanaian lawyers may have pursued this course but how has that contributed to consumer awareness in this country?
Enquiries about the Ghana Consumer Protection Society from a man who used to be a very active member in the mid-1990s resulted in the answer : " I have lost touch". If it still exists, Ghanaians need it more than ever before since a free market has made the country the dumping site for all kinds of goods, including those of very doubtful character, even from a sheer glimpse of its features.
The government, through its institutions is supposed to play a lead role in protecting consumers through laws, education and advocacy.
The need to encourage strong consumer awareness is now; because our markets are inundated with all sorts of goods .There are real challenges in the marketplace.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry planned a Trade Sector Support programme which was to last from 2006 to 2010. In the executive summary of the programme document, it is spelt out, among other things, the need for consumer protection.
The document states that the purpose of such a consumer protection project is “to create an environment that affords protection to consumers and enhances consumer welfare”.
It further states that to ensure this requires certain outputs which have been outlined as the development of a consumer protection policy, the enactment of a framework law on consumer protection, the establishment of a consumer protection authority and mechanisms and instruments for delivering speedy redress.
Therefore under this project was to be a consumer protection policy and framework law which will lead to the establishment of a Consumer Protection Authority including small claims courts to facilitate consumer redress.
This project has not been undertaken, leaving the consumer in a current state of helplessness.
As we celebrate World Tourism Week, it is obvious that the ministry needs to rededicate itself to this project. Ghanaian consumers and tourists need to be protected.
People are simply taking the rights of consumers for granted. But for now, how about a successfully prosecuted and publicised case of consumer rights abuse in court? That would definitely serve as some form of awareness. It looks like consumers are going to be seeing the notice— Goods once sold are not returnable — for a long time more and the consumer will continue to be given a raw deal. This situation definitely needs to change.
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