The Annual Ritual

 
 

The recent flooding in some areas in the capital city (Accra) raised a lot of concerns and issues regarding the plan of the city. There have been arguments about the approval of buildings situated on water ways, the unavailability of proper drainage systems and the likes. However the issue of flooding is perhaps by now known by most people as an annual ritual; where experts are invited to deliberate on what the causes are, what the solutions are and individuals are also invited to share their grievances and losses. 

 

It seems to have become a ritual where whenever the floods occur we as a nation make a whole lot of noise about the need to curb this situation yet do nothing.  The question on floor now then is what has been done ‘this time’ to ensure we don’t experience such tragedy again. We are tired of having to hear people always proclaim the solutions to this problem but at the end the rains come and the floods occur again. It always amazes me how Ghanaians seem to suddenly be awakened to the fact that filth and improper situation of structures (especially kiosks)   goes a long way to cause the floods yet these same Ghanaians criticize the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) when they take steps to curb the situation. The recent demolishing of kiosks situated at improper places at the Kwame Nkrumah circle by the AMA, i would say is a bold step by the AMA towards solving situation. It is however imperative to know that this is not the first time such a step has been taken. My problem has always been why the AMA has to wait until tragedies happen before taking such bold steps.

 

 Prevention we know is better than cure so AMA shouldn’t wait until the floods which might have perhaps aggrieved owners of such kiosks - come before finally standing firm to evacuate them adding to their grief. So it’s not only about the steps taken, but the timing of such steps. Also I think the AMA falls short in making sure such steps are maintained. This is to say that sooner or later we find these people or different people setting up their kiosks at these same places, and then the whole cycle begins again. There also is the case where the evacuated kiosks are moved from one unauthorized site to the other.

We as Ghanaians have to be ready to follow up on issues as such until we are convinced the problem is solved. Because now that the rains are gone the issues about flood seem to have died out of the media waiting for it to happen again and then sparks a whole lot of noise from the media. I believe now is the time we ought to find out from those in charge what exactly has been done to curb the situation and not wait for the rains to begin again.

By: Julius Ofori Boadu (JOB)
(juliusboadu@gmail.com)
Twitter: @CwesiOfori

Why God Opposes Gayism

On 11th Sept 2011 at church the preacher talked about "The purpose and the power of women" and as she preached through Genesis 2, the Lord gave me a deep insight into something there. You see in Gen 2:18, God said He was going to create a "SUITABLE" helper for man (Adam). In doing this, He went ahead and created "WOMAN". What is the big deal you might ask... Well the Big Deal is, to those who claim 'gay-ism' is OK and, people were born gay and that God see's nothing wrong wit it, and bla bla bla... this are the points.

1. God said He was gonna create a "SUITABLE" helper for man (key word: SUITABLE)

2. God went ahead and created a "WOMAN, a WOMAN, a WOMAN", NOT a "Man" as the

SUITABLE helper for man (i.e. God created the opposite sex for man)

Interpretation:

Unless you want to claim God is foolish (which He of course isn't - 1^st Cor. 1:25) and does not know what is SUITABLE for man, then what you must know is the word SUITABLE there implies; Man may or even 'can' want "ANY" helper for himself (be it an animal, or even a fellow man) but God gave "Woman" as the SUITABLE helper for man. Or maybe you want to claim God does not know "WHATS UP" That's why He created a woman as the suitable helper. But even with that, you got to know He created u in His own image (Gen 1:26 & 27) so it'll mean u are just as "colo" as u think God is...and even MORE....

Bottom line is God does BY NO MEANS agree to gay-ism...no matter the 'Rights' you think or believe you have (Prov 14:12)...Think about it.

By: Julius Ofori Boadu (JOB)
(juliusboadu@gmail.com)
Twitter: @CwesiOfori

Do Public Service Workers always need to be threatened before they deliver?

In line with its promise to rid the capital off filth and make it the millennium city, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (A.M.A) has taken a bold step which I support so well. On The 27th of July 2011, I saw a news item on E.t.v-Ghana which said that the Accra Metropolitan Assemble (A.M.A) had given a maximum of 60days to waste management companies to rid Accra off filth.  In an interview with the Mayor of Accra, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, he said there had been several complaints about the poor services some of these companies render. In view of this, these companies had been given a maximum of 60days to clear filth from Accra. He added that several companies had presented proposals to handle waste management and therefore this measure had been put in place to replace companies currently found not to be delivering. This is however not my worry. 

My worry is that on 28th July (thus just a day after the news item) at exactly 6:40am, the company responsible for rubbish collection in my area (Odorkor) were there to do their job and I was so amazed. This has never happened in my area (at least as far as I can remember). Does it mean these people had all the time been taking us for a ride; with all the excuses they have been giving us for not coming for the rubbish; sometimes for more than 2 weeks. I could not believe that it had to take a threat from A.M.A for them to begin to deliver. 

We previously had Zoomlion responsible for our area and they delivered effectively until the new one (i.e. Asadu) was apportioned to our area and since that change we have been receiving poor services. People leave their rubbish at collection points for days hoping it would be collected soon and sometimes have the rains even pour on them which leads to several environmental hazards. The most annoying thing is at the end of the month they come demanding their money. In confronting them, we were told there were no dumping sites and also roads leading to available dumping sites were very bad so their vehicles could not asses them. However my question is that, did the threat of them losing their contract with A.M.A suddenly fix the roads and provide dumping sites so they began to deliver?

By: Julius Ofori Boadu (JOB)
(juliusboadu@gmail.com)
Twitter: @CwesiOfori

Joe Mettle Launches Maiden Album

For people who were present at the launch of Joe Mettle’s maiden album, whenever they encounter a question like “what is gratitude?” the first thing that is most capable of coming to mind is what transpired at the Exhibition Assemblies of God Church (Dansoman, near Seven Great Sch.) on the 12^th of June 2011. 

The Soul winner’s icon, after years of being within the gospel music industry and inspiring a lot of youth with his praise jams finally launched his maiden album. In a season such as this where rain is even able to swerve the meteorologists, one might think it unwise to fix such an important event here. Well, even though there were some showers prior to the programme that day, it didn’t stop the enthused audience from showing up. People came from as far as Tema and all corners where Mettle’s music or ministrations had been heard: children, adults, even babies were present, but most especially the youth. The most thrilling thing was the massive attendance of his Local church folks. They really showed how much love and support they had for a brother.

The programme begun at 4pm with song ministrations from one of Ghana’s talented energetic praise singers, Francis Amo popularly known as Minister Francis. This guy sure knows how to treat typical, old Ghanaian gospel songs with the contemporary touch. He had the privilege of taking the audience through the opening prayer, worship time as well as a short time of praises. With Ike Duodu engineering sound, one could only expect the best of sounds as ministrations were received from contemporary Ghanaian gospel singers like Ike Nanor and John Sena. There was also a guest performance by Eugene Zuta together with Em’ Praise. Then the time came for the man of the day himself, the man showing Gratitude to God in the album titled MY G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E, to grab the microphone. He rocked the place like no mans business with his Reggae gratitude.  Calvis Hammond of Joyful Way Incorporated was not left out as he took his turn to minister a song he featured in the album.

After a powerful prayer had been said upon the CD’s they were released for auction sales starting from Gh¢2000; with the head pastor of the Exhibition Assemblies of God Church being the first to purchase one CD at that price in support of Mettle’s hard work. People couldn’t just help but also rush for their copies of the CD’s at prices they could afford. Certainly with a programme as this, one wouldn’t expect fellow “tight” musicians and choirs not to be present. Talk of musicians and choirs like Opoku Agyemang Sanaa, Eric Jeshurun Okyere, The Pent Project, Em' Praise, just to mention but a few. This was indeed the gathering of the saints but this time, the "music saints" because over 80% of people present were either music lovers of music makers.

In the end Joe had a fantastic time as well as the audience. He also took the opportunity to clear the air about the misconception that he was no longer with Soul winners and demonstrated it as he ministered together with the group at the end of the programme. In fact their ministration at the end rocked the whole place better than previous ones. With their old songs like “Hallelujah Ose” coming straight to today’s “Wala Abolo”, the audience could not help but be kept on their feet throughout their ministrations.  I guess this was a clear indication of what the scripture means by “the latter shall be greater than the former”. Phiphi Pholson the presenter at Sunny FM was also the M.C. for the day.

By: Julius Ofori Boadu (JOB)
(juliusboadu@gmail.com)
Twitter: @CwesiOfori