KINDNESS IS NOT A DEBT YOU PAY, BUT AN INVESTMENT YOU MAKE

Today, I have two stories for you. Both of them are true. Here's the first one:

Maxwell Morrison was well and truly screwed. He was standing in a courtroom in Bangkok, waiting for his sentence. The offence was drug trafficking, and if found guilty, the sentence would be life in one of the most horrific prisons in the world. The problem was that Maxwell was innocent. The drugs had been found stashed in a musical instrument he had agreed to carry through the checkpoint for a woman who had appeared to have her hands full with a baby, two young children and a whole lot of hand luggage. Of course, the moment the sniffer dogs singled him out for special attention, the woman and her children evaporated into thin air.

He had tried to explain this to the judge in his super-fast-track case, which had so far lasted less than 45 minutes, but the prosecution had countered by pointing out that it would take a very stupid person indeed to be suckered into carrying anything through a security checkpoint for a stranger - especially in this modern post-9/11 world. They had also pointed out that back home in Nottingham, Maxwell was a police officer. A security expert, who could never be as naïve as he was now pretending to be. Maxwell's only counter-argument to that had been, "Appearances can be deceptive". The Judge had given him the strangest look when he said that.

No, things were certainly not going well for him in this case. His only witness had been a British passenger who had seemed a bit drunk during her testimony. She admitted she had seen the woman hand the instrument to Maxwell, but added that they appeared to be travelling together. Again, Maxwell's defence was, "Appearances can be deceptive".

He remembered with irony the first time he had actually heard the expression "Appearances can be deceptive". It was in the eighties. He was a teenager going through a punk rock phase. He wore nothing but black, had multiple body piercings and was always playing with a scary-looking flip-knife. All the kids in school were afraid of him and steered well clear. One afternoon when he was enjoying some peace and quiet behind the boat shed, listening to Grateful Dead on his walkman, he heard a commotion. Three kids were bullying a foreign student. They were about to throw the little kid into the river, and the poor boy kept crying, "Please! Please, I can't swim!"

Maxwell intervened. At first, the three bullies wanted to fight it out, but Maxwell was a good three inches taller than the tallest of them. Plus, he had his knife, and he made them believe he was happy to use it. So they dropped the little foreign boy and went off to find a new victim. Maxwell asked the relieved kid if he was alright. The boy adjusted his glasses, looked at Maxwell for a long moment and said, "Appearances can be deceptive".

"Why do you say that?" Maxwell asked.

"Well, everybody thinks you're scary. Some kids even said you stabbed a teacher once. You're the last person I'd have expected to come to my aid. But thank you for doing so. I would have drowned if you hadn't. In Thailand where I come from, you owe the person who saves your life an eternal debt which you spend the rest of your life paying back. My name is Tran Pack, and I will never forget what you did for me." With that, he shook Maxwell's hand and ran off.

Back in the Bangkok courtroom, Maxwell allowed himself a wry smile as he recalled that childhood episode. Thirty years after he saved a Thai kid's life, he was now a 45-year old policeman, about to spend the rest of his own life in a Thai prison, all because appearances can be deceptive. He snapped out of his reflections as the judge banged his gavel three times. It was time for the verdict.

 

And that's where I'll end the first story. Here's the second story.

Judge Tran Pack could not believe his eyes when Maxwell Morrison walked into his courtroom. Thirty two years had not done much to change his appearance, so Tran recognised him at once. He listened patiently for 45 minutes and then banged his gavel three times before giving the verdict. "Mr Morrison, appearances can indeed be deceptive. Not guilty. You're free to go."

And that is the end of the second story.

I know I don't need to say much more about the lessons from these two stories. As you live your lives, please take every opportunity to do something unforgettable for someone who can't pay you back today. They'll pay you back tomorrow with interest.

Kindness is not a debt you pay, but an investment you make.

My name is Kofi Anokye, a development enthusiast, and now, let’s go out there and show exactly what we’re made of!

 

CHILD MARRIAGE: A LOOMING GLOBAL DANGER, AN ISSUE TOO LONG IGNORED IN GHANA

The upsurge of child marriage is of grave concern in Ghana. This age-old practice is rife in various communities across the length and breadth of the country. Child marriage inhibits girls' educational development, employability and subsequently influences their view of the world. The act takes the form of abduction, elopement and betrothal of these young girls who are mostly sold for a bride price.

In the matter of child marriage and its associated disadvantages to the girl child development, there have been global efforts to reduce to the barest minimum the canker of the phenomenon. In line with this, the first and third targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) four and five respectively states: “by 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes; eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations”.

Ghana's 1998 Children's Act (Act 560) and the 1992 Constitution of Ghana clearly prohibit any person from forcing a child to be betrothed or be the subject of a dowry transaction or to be married. However, the war against child or early marriage cannot be won when girls do not understand the consequences that come along with it. The focus must be on making girls understand that their future success is not in being wives; instead, it's in their skills and intellectual development.

The UNFPA's theory of change for Ghana suggests that for girls to fully enjoy their childhood free from the risk of marriage, they are to experience healthier, safer and more empowered life transitions while in control of their own destiny, including making choices and decisions about their education, relationship formation or marriage and childbearing. It suggests that there must be an acceleration of action to address child marriage in Ghana by enhancing investments in and support for married and unmarried girls alike, making visible the corresponding benefits of this assistance; engaging key actors, including young people, as agents of change in catalysing shifts towards what positive gender norms; increasing political support, resources, policies and frameworks promoting positive change and improving data and evidence base.

In order for Ghana to realize this vision, there are some critical questions to be considered. How well informed are the citizenry in both rural and urban areas on human rights issues and the consequences of committing such abuses? Have we empowered our numerous institutions that are responsible for protecting the girl-child in our country? Many of the abuses that are committed and swept under the carpet are not because we do not have institutions that can protect the rights of the victims and punish the culprits, it is because these institutions do not have enough resources to follow these issues. All these start and end with how adequately our institutions are resourced from national to the district levels to ensure that the triple phenomenon of dropping out of school and child marriage, which hinder the progress of the girl, is brought to an end.

To end child marriage also requires the engagement of the media as significant partners in shaping societal perception and social norms. The media’s increased advocacy on the factors fuelling the practice, the subsequent challenges and the benefits of ending the practice is very important, and must be encouraged. There should be consistent sensitization programs on the need to abstain from such vices and empower parents, as well as guardians with the acquisition of knowledge in order to invest their resources in their girl children. When these girls and communities are encouraged to know that there is a better alternative to becoming brides or marrying girls, this nation only loses the triple phenomenon that hinder the successful skill and intellectual development of the girl child.

From time to time, we keep dealing with the consequences of the problems that confront us, yet we seem to lose sight of the root cause of the problems.

My name is Kofi Anokye, a development enthusiast, and I will not allow fantasies wishful thinking and bedtime stories to be the bedrock on which our economy is being rebuilt but take a cold look at agendas and factual records and act decisively and swiftly to build a better Ghana.

“THINK TANKS” OR “TRASH CANS”? A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS IN GHANA

1. Introduction

A Civil Society Organisation (CSO) is a recognized institution whose mission is to influence public policy and opinion on specific areas of specialization through independent research and communication of findings, media relations and contact with stakeholders of public policy. Generally, CSOs are considered as public-policy research analysis and engagement organizations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis, and advice on domestic and international issues, which enable policymakers and the public to make informed decisions about public policy issues. Arguably, CSOs have become very influential due to the belief that governments alone are incapable of making proper and well-informed decisions on national issues due to the enormous volume of information they receive and time constraints they face. Basically, CSOs aim to influence public policy through constructive research and media briefing, critiquing and offering alternative views. 

2. CSOs in Ghana

The growth and operations of CSOs in Ghana have become prominent within the past three decades. The change in the political climate from 1992 is a major contributing factor to this phenomenon. In the period between 1957 and 1992, the political environment was, to a large extent, characterised by authoritarian predilection, which did not allow dissent or public discourse on what government decided to do, even in periods of democratic experiments. There was little emphasis on permitting widespread popular participation in policy-making. Upon adopting democratic system of governance, good governance was accordingly developed as a system that would permit societal groups to permeate the decision-making process of the state. This led to an increasing attempt to enhance societal participation and engagement in the policy process, which is of primary interest to CSOs.

The oldest CSO in Ghana is the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which was established in 1989. Over the years, many more CSOs have emerged. The prominent ones actively operating in Ghana include the IEA, Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), Legal Resources Centre, IMANI Ghana, Institute for Policy Alternatives (IPA), WACAM, Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) among others. Arguably, these CSOs are contributing in diverse ways to the democratic development of Ghana. In their attempt to influence public policy and government accountability, they adopt the following modi operandi: research publications, seminars, conferences, workshops, round-table discussions, and the use of media and advocacy. 

3. The State of CSOs in Ghana

This section provides an assessment of CSOs in Ghana from the perspective of Ghanaians through the following five (5) lenses: research publications, human resource capacity, leadership, stakeholder engagement and credibility.

(i) Research output

An enquiry into civil society organizations’ ability to produce good quality research revealed that CSOs in Ghana are able to identify critical national issues and mobilize highly skilled researchers for the task, especially when funds are available. It is contested that good quality research undertaken by CSOs make their views authoritative and respected. For instance, ACEP speaks to energy issues from informed research findings. However, further enquiry into the social acceptability of CSOs’ publications showed that research findings by CSOs seem too technical for people. Although this weakness is debatable, it is important CSOs communicate in simple and precise terms in trying to influence public policy and government accountability.

(ii) Human resource capacity

The calibre of personnel working in CSOs in Ghana is not different from the prevailing staffing situation in the global south. In terms of staffing, the strength of these CSOs is their ability to attract experts and professionals for their research activities. However, a worrying trend is that CSOs in Ghana relies so much on external researchers. In other words, they have limited experts in-house. It is a well-known fact that many CSOs in Ghana do not have staff with advocacy expertise and this explains their inability to exert much influence in bringing about policy changes. Without the necessary capacity, civil society organisations are likely to be used only as guise to building legitimacy for government policies rather than inviting new thinking and options in the policy making processes.

(iii) Leadership

The qualities of executive directors of CSOs are major contributing factors to the organisations’ high performance. An executive director shows the way and gets things done. However, the issue about what would be the state of prominent CSOs in the absence of their executive directors becomes critical. This raises concern about succession planning and its ramifications.  There appears to be a lack of clear strategy for succession in case key staff such as executive directors of CSOs are not available. Closely linked to this problem is the issue of undefined career path. Thus, it is unclear how a staff progresses in a civil society organization in Ghana. Additionally, it is reported that these CSOs are unable to retain high calibre personnel and high staff turnover weakens the organizational strength in terms of human resource capacity. 

(iv) Stakeholder engagement

Another strength of civil society organizations in Ghana relates to their ability to create multi-stakeholder discussions. Arguably, due to their neutrality, CSOs have what is popularly called “convening power”. This explains why stakeholders honour invitations from civil society organizations for dialogues. In other words, stakeholders feel comfortable attending workshops and meetings organised by CSOs in the sense that these platforms serve as “rallying point” to learn, unlearn and relearn for stakeholders.

In spite of the engagement, there is asymmetry of power in the state-CSO relationship. The situation is attributed to the fact that the interaction between the two is not institutionalized and therefore lacks formal rules to regulate the partnership. The absence of guiding principles means that government does not feel obliged to share information or include CSOs in policy dialogues. Going forward, a working framework that will recognize CSOs as equal partners, and include them in all processes from the conception of ideas to implementation and monitoring is therefore required for an effective civil society engagement in policy processes.

(v) Credibility

The credibility of a CSO is largely explained by its neutrality in all sectors. However, there are mixed opinions. A section of well-meaning Ghanaians is of the view that sometimes CSOs do not understand or miss the real issues in policy discussions and end up making a mountain out of a molehill. In addition, it is contested by others that some CSOs in Ghana have ‘cordial’ relationship with government and therefore are unable to put necessary pressure on government to take policy actions. Like many around the globe, CSOs in Ghana must endeavour to strengthen their credibility to the public.  

Another worrying situation is that CSOs in Ghana face funding challenges. Unlike countries such as China where government funds CSOs to undertake research to aid policy decisions, CSOs in Ghana hardly get government sponsorship. Thus, CSOs in Ghana rely extensively on external sources (donors) for funding. These funds come from organisations based in the developed world and it is very tempting. In Akan, there is an adage that “it is poverty that makes the poor person sell his or her wisdom to the rich”. To wit: if you are poor, you are easily influenced or deceived. In this light, CSOs in Ghana are tagged with credibility issues, especially when their research findings do not favour certain sections of the public.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, civil society organisations in Ghana still remain shallow, limited to information sharing and consultation rather than joint decision making or policy direction, initiation and control.

My name is Kofi Anokye, a development enthusiast, and by the time I leave this world, it must be better than I found it.