HOW LITTLE ACTIONS CAN CREATE BIG ISSUES

So I was on my way home from work today and one of the funniest thing never expected happened. I walked to circle with two other friends and whiles we were going, wr realized there was alot of traffic on the Circle-Adabraka road. I kept wondering why the traffic had mounted to that point which was very unusual. We kept our cool and started walking till we got to circle just to realise there was a little misunderstanding between two drivers leading them to get out of their cars and argueing fiercly. It was funny but on the other hand very serious. I thought to myself, if only they knew how much traffic their actions had caused, they wouldn't be arguing over the petty issue of who had the right of way. However, there was a police man who came and tried to resolve the issue. So we left and one of my friends parted way with us since he was going to a different station to board a car and we also went our way. How that argument will be resolved is another story for another day.

ACTIVITIES THAT CAN BE UNDERTAKEN IN THE TOILET

I have always wondered if there can be any other use one can derive from being in the toilet apart from attending to various forms or nature’s call or other dubious activities that other people might be engaging in the washroom but I could never figure it out. So I decided to embark on a journey to find out if there could be any other useful activity that can be engaged in the washroom. I entered the washroom at work, locked the door behind me and sat on the toilet bowl. As I sat down, all sorts of thoughts came rushing through my mind. I had with me a pen and a paper so I started putting those thoughts down. It then dawned on me that the serene environment I encountered whilst sitting on the toilet bowl was unlocking my innermost thoughts. I then realized that there is an important use of the washroom that most people have failed to explore. Sitting on the toilet bowl without doing anything gives one of the best feelings ever. It gives one another route to escape from a lot of things; be it your noisy colleagues at work, annoying siblings at home or if you want to shut yourself from people and be in your own small world.

It is also one of the best places to think, make important plans and take important life changing decisions. Some people decide to play hand held video games whilst in the toilet. Others play with toys just so they don’t get too bored of being there. The toilet is also a place where some people day dream. Some think of things like sports, people you may have a crush on, people you hate and want to crush, your hobbies, how to land that dream job or partner in life, business plans just to mention a few. Others could decide to make a ninja mask out of their t-shirt whilst in the toilet.

The toilet could also be a good place to talk to yourself. This could be useful when someone has upset you and you respect your friendship or relationship with the person that you wouldn’t want to vent your anger. So you could do it in the toilet. Just talking to yourself helps to ease some form of pain and stress of you having to keep whatever is troubling you inside. Whilst one sits there, one could tap out a beat on their lap or maybe on the wall beside them. This can be very amusing while they using the toilet and it might hurry things along too if they are lucky…..I guess you know what I mean.

One could also decide to read in the toilet and that’s why most people especially the grown up men decide to read their newspapers in there. You could read comic books as well as doing homework that is if you are a student. However, those who use public toilets also try to write on the doors and the walls of the washrooms. Some write their nicknames whiles others just write random things. There may be consequences to these kind of actions and those post is not encouraging anyone to engage in such activities. Some people also decide to sit there with their smart phones and chat with friends which is also not a bad idea.

In conclusion, you may agree with me to some extent that there is so much the toilet can offer than we actually allow it to. Try any of the above mentioned activities and experience the power of sometimes being in the washroom.

Written by: Richard Quarshie

From the toilet at the African University of Communications Library.

MY OPINION ON THE 1992 CONSTITUTION AND HOW IT DEALS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA IN TERMS OF REGULATIONS

According to the Wikipedia online dictionary, Media can be said to be tools used to store and deliver information or data. The importance of media in any given country can never be under estimated due to the power it wields depending on how it is used. It has the power to make an innocent man look guilty and a guilty man look innocent. Radio, television and print are some of the components of media and are considered or known as traditional media. However, the emergence of the internet in recent times, has given birth to a new form of media knows as social media. Wikipedia online dictionary also defines social media as Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Social media depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. It introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities and individuals. Examples of social media include facebook, twitter, linkedin.

The legal regime in Ghana which is the 1992 constitution has not set parameters for the activities of social media. This is because at the time the constitution was written, social media did not exist and therefore there was no need to set those parameters. However even though the constitution has put forth guidelines and regulations upon which the traditional media i.e radio, television and print should operate, some of these mechanisms indirectly influence the activities of social media. Since the constitution has not set forth parameters for the activities of social media, there have been challenges with the regulation of these activities. Some of these challenges are:

Firstly, it is difficult to monitor how information is posted on social media networks. This is because now with the evolution of mobile internet and how wide globalization has spread, it is difficult to monitor the flow of information on the social networks. While someone sits in his office in China to post a picture, someone also in his garage can equally do same. Even though the owners of such networks could try and keep an eye on activities, it would still be difficult since information flows from all over the world. It may however be noted that due to the challenge of regulating such activities, the owners of social media platforms always issue disclaimers to what people post so that they wouldn’t have to take responsibility to whatever is posted on their platform.

The second challenge is that in Ghana, there are no proper ways of monitoring how the internet and other social media platforms are used. This is because the use of social media in Ghana like a burrowed culture and since the invention and the origination of internet did not start from Ghana, the country as a whole does not have a proper mechanism for checking such activities. Also, since there are no punishments spelt out in the constitution to punish people who post pictures of other information on such websites that seek to defame others, people don’t usually care about the implications of what they post there thereby making social media look as if it’s not law abiding.

Thirdly, since the constitution has not laid down guidelines for the activities of social media, it creates a challenge in the sense that there is no form of frame work for the authorities to work on. And once there is no framework there can never be a task force or anything for the authorities to lean on a work. Unlike in article 162 clause 6 of the 1992 constitution which states that ‘any medium for the dissemination of information to the public which publishes a statement about or against any person shall be obliged to publish a rejoinder, if any from the person in respect of whom the publication was made.’ It must be noted that there are no such provisions when it comes to the use of social media. It is for this reason that most social network operators such facebook, twitter, linkedin and other networks issue disclaimers to distance themselves from what users usually post there.

Based on the above mentioned challenges, the following recommendations have been suggested.

Firstly, in order to create a law abiding social media, there should be an amendment of the 1992 constitution to set parameters for the use of social media. It should make provisions and set up rules and regulations for the use of social media. When this is done, it would go a long way to make people more responsible for what they post online.

Secondly, all stakeholders such as communication authorities, telecom operators as well as the Government must be able to invest in creating infrastructural framework that would help in monitoring activities of social media users as well as be able to track them. Some of these infrastructure should include software for tracking internet users as well as coordinating with the communication agencies to be able to take actions against their customers who violate the terms and conditions that have been set forth concerning the use of the internet as a whole.

Again, in order to create a law abiding social media, users of social media need to take responsibility between right and wrong, what is worth posting and what is not. They need to let their conciense make that judgement call. Also the regard for culture and societal norms should also help in creating a law abiding social media. This is because if users in Ghana are able to identify things that are socially and culturally acceptable, they just won’t be posting anything they like. An example is someone posting a photoshoped image of President Mahama on facebook which is not acceptable in our culture and society as a whole.

I hope with the above mentioned recommendations, Ghana will be able to create a law abiding social media.

THE ELECTION PETITION AND HOW IT SHOULD STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY – MY OPINION

Whilst many people especially the supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress saw the just ended 2012 election petition hearing as a waste of time, others have described the move as one that could set a precedence to further strengthen democracy in Africa. It also provided the opportunity to test the provisions set forth by the 1992 constitution as well as the laws of the electoral commission of Ghana Article 64 clause 1 of the 1992 states that ‘The validity of the election of the President may be challenged only by a citizen of Ghana who may present a petition for the purpose to the Supreme Court within twenty-one days after the declaration of the result of the election in respect of which the petition is presented. ‘This is the first time in Ghana and as we have seen in Nigeria and a few other parts of Africa, where a party having lost an election decided to use the judicial system to contest the results. It was good for the existence and strengthening of democracy in Africa and the other parts of the world because it gives fair hearing to the petitioners as well as the respondents whilst preserving the peace and stability in the country. It also exposes the flaws that may be contained in a country’s electoral system both in laws and operations, which was evident in the just ended election petition hearing. The action by the petitioners must be commended and others must be encouraged to follow instead of resorting to the use of violence in resolving election disputes. Through the election petition, a new maxim has been developed for the rule of law in Ghana, namely ‘do not take it to the streets, take it to the courts.’

By Richard Quarshie with added facts from: Ogochukwu Nweke