Biometric Registration, Ghana

The EC(electoral commission) introduced the biometric system which was used to register voters and also will be used to verify voters on the day of voting, let me add i feel is a great step in technological plus to the nation Ghana and also in our democracy.

Recently the register has been opened to the public for all who registered to go and check if their details are as they should be. Surprisingly, just a few days into the exercise and  most people have come out to complain that they can not find their names in the register.What? How can this be since the machine accepted the details and then printed out a hard copy of the voter's id card to them, therefore anybody with a hard copy id card, we assume the machine must have already saved his/her details first(common logic). So what exactly went wrong?

This is what i think happened(based on my knowledge on how the system works and my IT background as well as personal thoughts)?

To begin with there were not sufficient technical people who could operate or repair the system when it developed some faults, which it did countless times during the registration period. There were instances in my area(Ledzokuku) when there were no registration going on not because people were not around to register but the 'system was down', at least that was what we were told.

There could be hours of no activity because they had to wait for the technical personnel to fix the machine or close for the day when the personnel did not show up.

Another technical factor was what i term as 'the work force' of the machines provided. The machine could only register a certain number of persons per day(that was reported by some radio stations), mean while the registration exercise was suppose to start at 8am and end at 4pm if i remember correctly. So imagine if by the early hours of 11am the machine registers its maximum for the day, what will happen to the rest of the people left, come back another day? That's bad but the million-dollar question is was that done or people were registered just to satisfy voters?

So now the question i ask the EC is, what will happen to those who do not find their names in the register?

But i in all think the EC has learn his lessons and will provide adequate measures the next time.  God bless Ghana.

Glo premier league - jerseys

It’s the 21^st century, an era where football is no longer treated as back then in the 17^th and 18^th century but as an industry where lots of money is generated. In fact hundreds of billions of US dollars are made from owning football teams annually. No wonder some of the world’s richest people are investing greatly into the sport.

Football or soccer as it is widely known in greater parts of the world has found its way into the hearts of Africans and gained its roots in the land to the extent of producing some great and excellent players, the likes of Abedi Ayew Pele, George Opong Weah, JJ Okocha, Roger Mila, Kanu as well as Samuel Eto’o Fils, Drogba, Essien, Yaya Toure, Asamoah Gyan as the 21^st century stars of Africa.

Ghana as a nation has improved considerably on the African and world stage seeing them go through to the quarter finals of the South African world cup 2010(the first time hosted in Africa), the second African side to do so after Cameroun in Italia 1990. Despite all the individualistic and national success in the sport, you would think a nation like Ghana would treat soccer like a precious’ god’. But surprisingly that is not the case.

Though Ghanaians love the sport so passionately little has been done by officials and top flight teams to prove it.

As at the 2011/2012 we all witnessed many Ghanaian premier league teams with playing league matches with;

•  No name brand jerseys: these are jerseys that are designed and made by individuals , that is to say that makers of the jerseys 
•  non-sponsored jerseys:
•  no sponsor fees: these are jerseys designed or made by name brands but instead of sponsoring or paying these teams to wear their jerseys as it is advertised by the teams where ever they play, the teams are readily happy to advertise these companies jerseys without receiving any monies from them  
  

The most amazing fact is that in this 21^st century top flight teams in the premier leagues in a nation like Ghana put on jerseys which have do not have player names on them. Teams like Accra hearts of oak were all victims to this. It even went to the extent that players of such teams changed the jersey numbers registered in their names at the beginning of the season anytime they felt like doing so and did not face any sanctions or what so ever from the Ghana Premier Board(GPB) and not even the GFA(Ghana Football Association).

This is absolutely no good for Ghana and certainly not for Africa soccer in this modern age of soccer advancement. Let’s do our best to raise the game in Africa.

STAND TALL AND BE A PROUD AFRICAN (STABAPA).

Charles Taylor Sentenced

Yes 50 years that’s how many years Liberian ex-leader has been sentenced by a UN-backed court in The Hague. For what crimes you ask? Well for allegedly supporting the rebels in his country back in the 90’s when he was the leader of Liberia. Sure no doubt the rebels did a lot of bad, I mean terrible and horrible things to the citizens who supported the government in power or those who dared to oppose the rebels. But with the little I know people are sentenced or convicted by the crimes they are involved in, but with what I see today Charles Taylor was convicted and prosecuted and further on jailed 50 years for crimes committed by others when he was the leader of his country.

So the question I ask myself and the world is; Can any leader or who so ever leads a country be prosecuted by the I.C.C (International Criminal Court) for crimes committed against humanity during his or her reign whether or not he had anything to do with it directly or indirectly.

If the answer to my question is yes then with even the little I know most world leaders should be showing be visiting The Hague because it’s no news most horrific events has happened under the rule of most leaders in the world today. Not even to talk of the UN themselves who in recent years has supported repels in some parts of the world to go against so called dictating leaders of such nations where similar or even worst cases have happened. If that is the yard stick used to measure Taylors conviction then I think the I.C.C needs inviting more leaders of the world in some cases where these leaders were leading some great nations of the world today.

It saddens my heart that most leaders in Africa who took power in unconstitutional ways (military coup) in the name of the constitutional governments not performing have their followers or appointed government officials abusing their offices in these cases when the leaders of such governments are being blamed for actions as such. But be warned and beware though because not all of these coup leaders are innocent of these charges. Some before acquiring power and the trust of the people they so proclaim they are protecting or fighting for are calm and innocent as the me and you who know nothing about what exactly is going on but after assuming power and national wealth they seem to forget their promises and turn to be controlled by their acquired power and national wealth which was created by the toils and sweat of the people. It’s just sad and a pity.

And why Charles Taylor isn’t serving his sentence in the lands where the crimes under which he was sentenced were committed is another topic for tomorrow.