Ghana National Party plan to eliminate Preventable Diseases

November 14, 2007 GNP – ACTION PLAN to Eliminate Preventable Diseases - Cover the Gutters and Amend the Constitution for District and local Control. The recent report that diabetes affects about 2.2 million Ghanaians is a serious one indeed. In a report (Ghanaweb November 13, 2007) by a member of Parliament and Chairman of Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Hon. Dr. Francis Osafo-Mensah (MP- Kwahu South) said the disease could affect about half of the population of Ghana. This should not be one of those reports that are given in Parliament and we moan and groan, throw our hands in the air, look for World Bank assistance, or we pray and give it to God.

It is about time we as a people stood up and tackled our problems ourselves, allowing localities to have control over their own cleanliness and sanitation! The sad aspect of this is that in Ghana many do not see the correlation of diseases to the filthy and unhealthy surroundings they live close to, and the stagnant culture of their lifestyles. Let us note that most of our Ghanaian doctors know as much and may be as good as any in the world, they understand the problems. However we as a society lack the leadership will to work together and effect changes. For example it is known in the medical sciences and as common knowledge now in the Western world that walking is one of the key exercises for good health. This was even pointed out by one MP, Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh (NDC-WA West). However how do you implement a good vision and help the society? Walking for 30 minutes to an hour per day is known to affects the blood circulation, improves blood pressure and hence has an effect on not only diabetes but the incidence of hypertension and other stress related diseases. It is unfortunate that most of our educated men and women never exercise once they leave school. What can a government do about this? This writer and Ghana National Party believe the government has a role to play. It is leadership! It is simple leadership, at the local to the national levels! It is interesting to observe how we in Ghana solve or problems in society. In the report we read that Dr Francis Osafo-Mensah warned in a statement in Parliament in Accra to mark World Diabetes Day, November 14.

The report said “Dr Osafo-Mensah urged Ghanaians to give the disease, which so far had no cure, a serious consideration”. Dr Kwame Ampofo (NDC-South Dayi) described diabetes as "very humiliating disease" because it affected a person's thinking and psyche. He called for the prevention of overweight and periodic laboratory tests to detect the disease. One would have thought that Parliament would come out with a stronger and smarter long term solution to the problem that also may include mandatory cleaning up our surroundings and neighborhood, and providing the necessary means to help through lifestyle changes. People need jobs, and cleaning up is part of labor! We need to budget to pay people to do the cleaning daily, in each town, district and national levels, and workers controlled by the city or district councils. We should not wait for another 50 years at Ghana@100 to clean our streets! Ghanaian leaders should not forget that the number one killer in Ghana is malaria, with a reported 50,000 or more dying of the illness every year! It will be very embarrassing for any educated person in Ghana to admit that he or she does not know that standing water, filth and open sewage is what breeds mosquitoes and hence cause malaria. Mosquitoes are alive in America, especially the southern States. But why doesn’t America have malaria problems? The state governments of America took control and eradicated the mosquito!

Almost every body in Ghana is subject to mosquito bites at least a few times per year, with many undergoing treatment two or more times. The treatment of malaria costs Ghana an estimated $600 million in simple treatment and about $2 billion if one adds the cost of hospitalization, loss of productivity, and not even adding the cost of funeral services for the dead. With 78.5% of Ghana living under $2 per day, and at about $30 per treatment the average person is using about one to two months salary to fight this preventable disease! This writer, as President of Ghana Leadership Union and Diaspora Chairman of the new Ghana National Party, GNP, has called for the abolition of open gutters in Ghana and the creation of sidewalks for people to take a walk without having to smell the stink and squalor. In a three months living and study of Ghana in summer 2004, this writer took walks in the morning from his residence in East Legon and found that the practice was very aggravating, unlike in say American towns where every residential area has sidewalks to facilitate walking and biking. One could not avoid jumping open gutters, sometimes moving into the bushes to give way to oncoming vehicles. Worst of all the sight and smell of the stinky gutters would discourage any older persons from taking such a walk! How do foreigners think of us? Do our leaders think of this? The irony of this is that the government is still constructing brand new gutters in even these affluent residential areas which get clogged up only days after construction, and breeds these deadly mosquitoes. This writer did some simple engineering calculations and found that the cost of creating a central sewage system would perhaps be equal to or only a small percentage above the current cost of the open gutters plus the additional cost of individual owners covering their gutters. Residents are not even given the choices. We must think what will suit the residents.

What is missing is the leadership. The irony of history is that it was a founding father of the UP tradition, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, who started this central sewage system in 1969-72 time. What did the NPP do to continue where their founder started? On behalf of the Ghana National Party we call on the government to make it mandatory for all town-hoods and cities to hire experts to help them design and create a covered sewage system funded by the local residents. Ghana National party believes that the people of Ghana want clean surroundings and will pay for their neighborhoods to be clean. Our people have the right to live in environments where they and their families will not have to endure the constant fight with mosquitoes and malaria. A clean healthy town or city should therefore be the right of every citizen. We also want to put the government on note that one of the major barriers holding Ghana from moving forward and empowering towns and cities is this waiting on central government to bring them money to fix their problems and even clean their streets. GNP believes that in the modern age and under a democracy, the President should not have to appoint or nominate District, Municipal or Metropolitan Chief Executives and Regional Ministers, but the people should have the right to elect them. We hereby ask that The President gives up some of his powers through a constitutional amendment through parliament. The President, even before the constitutional amendment, should issue an order to the Ministers of Health, Regional, and Roads, and other governmental bodies in charge to make it mandatory for all communities to set up their city and town councils, and design and create covered sewage system and start the process of learning to live as organized communities. The objective is a requirement to make their communities as clean and as healthy with no open and unsightly and unhealthy lagoons, drains and gutters as we usually see in most neighborhoods in our cities and towns. Human beings deserve to live as clean human beings! It takes leadership to point these out and we challenge President Kufuor to show leadership if he wants to leave a clean and healthy legacy, and we pray for long life now that he has escaped the accident of today November 14, 2007. Furthermore we feel the Ministry of Health should have the right and duty to issue a fine for all communities where such set quality environmental cleanliness are not followed. Ghana needs ACTION beyond the mere discussions and lectures. GNP realizes the limitation we have as a new political party for the people of Ghana to know us, but also realize our responsibility and obligation to share some of our global overseas experiences with the nation and provide the right kind of modern leadership. This will open the doors for great new possibilities for a more healthy and safe society. We applaud the efforts of men like Hon. Dr. Francis Osafo-Mensah (NPP Kwahu South), Dr. Kwame Ampofo (NDC-South Dayi), and Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh (NDC-Wa West) for their leadership on the health issue. GNP hopes that our nation will prosper under the right leadership of the future.

GNP has blueprint plans to help make this a possibility and not only share our skills, assets and competencies from around the world in helping to curb corruption, bring better income distribution, create well paying jobs through technological innovations, balance the budget, but also improve the lifestyle and living conditions that our people deserve in the year of our Lord 2007 in Ghana. Ghana National Party stands for Great New Possibilities for Ghana! Long Live Ghana. Contact: Ghana National Party – Accra, Ghana Dr. Kwaku A. Danso, USA 510-494-8300 Accra, Ghana 021-517-238 Email: "mailto:kwaku.danso@natlparty.com"
kwaku.danso@natlparty.com Website "http://www.natlparty.com"
www.natlparty.com Or: Ofori Ampofo, Exec. Chairman, Accra, 020-936-1849 Ghana National Party. Accra, Ghana: 233