Many years ago while undertaking my National Service in the VRA, I was reminded of a very basic lesson which I had actually been taught during Civics in Primary School. The lesson was that the premises of all power transmission services at all levels are out of bounds to all persons except staff of the power utilities appropriately geared and sent in to undertake work. Even for these staff, beyond the safety boots that they wear, they mostly go into such facilities without watches and other stuff that may likely trigger a reaction from the installed power equipment.
It is for this reason that all transmission stations, transformers, etc are mandated to have a safety perimeter enclave around it (mostly secured by mesh or walking).
I was therefore shocked to my bone this morning when I saw a food vendor plying his trade directly in front of an ECG Sub-Station in a first class residential area of Accra. As if that was not enough, she had a set up inside the cordoned ECG station (gate open) where those who were going to eat there had table set up to eat with another table for washing the dishes.
Interestingly enough, there was a line up of at least six vehicles (mostly SUVs) whose occupants had queued up to patronize this vendor with none seeing anything wrong with the set-up.
I’ve since this morning been asking myself questions. Is it that our education in this country is so bad that we are ignorant and unable to appreciate these things? Is it a matter of weak enforcement of regulations by those paid with our taxes to do so. Is it simply that we have as a people, gone over the rubicon and so we simply do not care about anything any longer or it’s simply a combination of multiple factors.
I keep telling friends that we are headed as a country is so dangerous that if we are not careful, a time will come very soon where like in Genesis 21:25 where the Bible records that, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes”. We are told that a stitch in time saves nine.
Let’s tread very cautiously. Let them that have ears…
My dear friend,
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.” – George Bernard Shaw
Over the last couple of years, I’ve dedicated a bit of my time to join the struggle of helping to raise the younger generation. This has been to ensure that they are well positioned to take over the reins of this country and improve on its lot.
Being a committed Christian, I have for the better part of my adult life been inspired by the philosophy, ‘Omnibus Omnia Factus Sum’, a Latin phrase adopted from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians 9:22 where he wrote that he became all things to all men that he might save some by all means.
I have therefore, utilized all manner of approaches to help influence positive change in the attitude and orientation of our people for the overall purpose of nation building. To this, I welcome you to my blog. Enjoy my take on issues espoused through the scripts as well as my brief thoughts on issues as they play out daily and news stories on various endeavors that I may play a part in.
Feed back is always critical for improvement and I would thus appeal to you to always leave a note after reading any piece on this blog.
Welcome and enjoy browsing the pages.
Eric Atta-Sonno