The Public Agenda is not happy with delays by the Ghana National Fire Service in attending to fire outbreaks. Citing the recent fire explosion at Anyaa near Ablekuma in the Ga West district, the paper believes if the fire service had the right infrastructure and fire hydrants at strategic places in Accra, they could have acted in time to save the situation. The Public Agenda is however quick to add that, with the kind of obsolete equipment they use, it will be unfair for Ghanaians to blame them always. It says it took fire tenders from Kaneshie, Weija and Madina to drive through the heavy traffic to the disaster scene. This means that the entire vast land from Awoshie to Anyaaa and Ablekuma has no fire station; and even if they had, the area faces perennial shortage of water. The Public Agenda notes that if the amount of capital, property and lives lost through fire-outbreaks is quantified, it will not be asking to much that the government consider providing one or two helicopters and the state of the art equipment for the fire service.
The Ghanaian Times is worried at the way politics has eaten into the fibre of society to an extent that people are prepared to do anything to gain power. It says events over the past six months in the country have given cause to wonder what future multi-party democracy holds for Ghana. The Times cites how the US President elect Barack Obama surprised the world when he chose his arch-rival, Senator McCain to be part of his cabinet and wonders whether Ghana will ever get there. The paper says Ghanaians are noted to be peace lovers but tempers become so frayed when it comes to politics.
The Chronicle identifies itself with an advice by a former President of the Ghana Bar Association, Sam Okudzeto to Ghanaians to eschew tribalism. Mr. Okudzeto is reported to have made reference to the Akan-Ewe tribes as the worst of the distortions but added that the two never fought against each other as perceived by many in the country. They are close allies, as inter marriage and resettlement by the two a clear testimony to this effect. The Chronicle notes that the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and some parts of India have never known peace, because of the overplaying of ethnic cards. To the Chronicle, poverty and deprivation should be the number one and collective enemy, which all must come together to fight.
"Ban Pidgin English" is how the Enquirer captions its editorial. It says the MP for Ho East, Juliana Azumah-Mensah, has called for a ban on speaking of Pidgin English in the first and second cycle institutions. According to the paper this she noted will enable the students to cultivate the habit of reading, to enhance their understanding of the English Language. The Enquirer hopes the MP will impress on school authorities to ensure that pupils and students who flout the ban are severely punished to serve as deterrent to others.
