General

“Priorities Maxwell!!! There are increased fuel prices, higher cost of living, rising inflation, not to mention COVID, Monkeypox and other health issues and you choose to write about “noise”?? Well……yes. It’s been on my mind ever since moving to the countryside and there is plenty of literary material around on all other matters for our readers to educate themselves anyway. What do you think of when you think of noise pollution? In a country such as Ghana, one of the first things that may come to mind may perhaps be the loudspeakers of your neighbourhood church or mosque, or perhaps the near-perpetual lack of quiet at the more central lorry stations like Accra-Circle and or Tudu. If you decided to jump continents and countries and found yourself in say, Switzerland, you would find quite quickly that the seemingly mundane and habitual act of flushing your toilet may get you very harshly told off by your fellow apartment building cohabitants, or your landlord or landlady. Apparently, in Switzerland,  any flushing between 10PM and 7PM is considered much too loud and classified as a disturbance and noise pollution. YOU READ THAT RIGHT. GOOGLE IT! I wouldn’t have known about it if it hadn’t happened to a close friend of mine. The pollution that noise causes have crept up on Ghanaians so swiftly and for so long that we often do not even think about it anymore. It often appears to be the unavoidable by-product of development and industrialisation. Businesses and business-like activities are popping up around residential areas like mushrooms growing overnight. In most cases, however, these businesses are not predominantly the cause of any (direct) noise by way of their professional operations, except for some cases. Thing is, there is a great deal of associated noise, such as traffic they bring along both automobiles and pedestrians.  Some of the main causes of noise pollution in Ghana today involve:  Industries, Companies and Business-like activities in and around residential areas both in Accra and around the country;  Street funerals! These are ad hoc funerals that occur in Ghana’s cities. During these funeral processions, large loudspeakers are mounted, music is blasted for hours on end, usually extending from the day into well into the night (or the wee hours of the morning), and roads are blocked for an unspecified amount of time (usually lasting not more than 20 hours at a go);  Religious processions! Typically, mosques (places of Muslim prayers and religious gatherings) in Ghana tend to mount megaphones on their buildings to be able to reach wide areas and sizeable numbers of worshippers with their messages and prayers. In the spirit of religious tolerance, this practice is entirely acceptable. Nonetheless, it may be worth mentioning that it does toe the line of the subject matter, whether the locals are or aren’t religious;  Communal churches! Much in the same way as the mosques conduct their processions of faith to the wider populations around them, churches in Ghana equally have a penchant and a history of very high decibels emanating from their buildings. These moments usually occur on Sunday mornings well into the afternoon, but night services on weekdays (especially Fridays) tend to play an equal role.  If we are being honest with ourselves, the sort of noise pollution we experience in Ghana can indeed be a tad unnerving. But putting our emotions aside, is it perhaps in any way harmful to us?  Does noise pollution in Ghana impact our health?  We have been exposed to heightened decibels (of sound) for so long that we have drifted into a place of not even thinking of it much, beyond complaining about the momentary inconvenience it may cause us from time to time. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that sound decibels above 70 decibels for prolonged periods can cause damage to our hearing. For some context in the matter, a typical motorbike engine runs at circa 95 decibels; take this information and juxtapose it with your local street funeral or other similar gatherings, especially ones done on regular basis. Noise pollution has been studied and determined to cause a myriad of health concerns including loss of hearing, stress, high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disturbances, and so on. National Geographic had the following to say on the health impacts of noise pollution:  “Noise pollution impacts millions of people on a daily basis. The most common health problem it causes is Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). Exposure to loud noise can also cause high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disturbances, and stress. These health problems can affect all age groups, especially children. Many children who live near noisy airports or streets have been found to suffer from stress and other problems, such as impairments in memory, attention level, and reading skill“ Noise Pollution | National Geographic, n.d. The same decibels of noise that cause heart disease, high blood pressure, stress, impaired hearing and so on, are the same that affect most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria is a notable exception because things such as the population size, the relative degrees of industrialisation and the more perverse use of generators give an unusual and notably upward spike in both the data and the severity and frequency of these aforementioned negative health effects. More on the actual data-backed severity can be read in this study, the full reference is below this article, from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. It highlights effects ranging from negative impacts on fetal development (in pregnant women) to other severities such as type 2 diabetes incidents.  A synopsis of a 2019 Study of Noise Pollution Measurements and Possible Effects on Public Health in Ota Metropolis, Nigeria, by the US National Center for Biotechnology Information. “A look at the literature showed the abundance of evidence of the adverse effects of noise pollution on the general public health. The worsening situation of noise pollution is that it has not been upgraded to the level of the other forms of pollution. Also, recommendations suggested by several authors on the different strategies on

Co-Authored by Dr. Maxwell Ampong & Rya G. Kuewor GLOBAL TOPICS AT DAVOS 2022 The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, took place this past week from May 22nd to 26th, 2022. The Agenda for the meeting was to contemplate and discuss current global contexts and explore and fashion new (global) collaborations. Also, as a core section of the meeting, the Forum planned to share and launch new initiatives meant to foster global and regional cooperation in order to secure the structured recovery of the global economy, safeguard the planet, and build healthy, equitable societies. Two major things are happening in the world in very recent times – one that connects the whole world, and the other that appears to concern pockets of populations in isolation. These two things are COVID and its health & wealth-related implications, and climate change. It is worth a deeper dive into the purpose and intended outcomes of this year’s DAVOS Annual Meeting, which was the first time in 2 years it has happened in person again after COVID and after the initial onset of the war in Ukraine. The hot topics at the Annual Meeting at the Davos-Klosters this year included the following: The lingering threat of COVID 19, such as the stalling of global economic recovery and the looming inequality gap that still pervasively exists. The shifting geopolitical influence, especially with regards to instability in conflict negotiations in Eastern Europe, and the disregard by Russia of UN and EU imposed sanctions meant to dissuade hostilities against Ukraine. The President of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende said in a statement that, “at a time when power dynamics are in a flux, there is an opportunity for stakeholders to make the decision to shape geopolitics in a cooperative, rather than competitive, manner.“  The impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine rests very heavily on disrupting global food prices, but also on the cost of food imports and exports. Russia and Ukraine collectively produce about 30% of the world’s wheat and barley, half of its sunflower oil, and about one-fifth of the world’s maize. The Russian Federation is also the world’s top gas exporter. Together with Belarus, they export about one-fifth of global fertiliser.  It’s clear to see why this war not only has a harrowing impact on the lives of people within Ukraine, Russia, and countries in Eastern Europe and the European Union who are receiving (Ukrainian) refugees but also on the rest of the world, where, as is obvious, the poorest of the poor will suffer all the more.  Apropos the rising food prices and their negative impact on the world’s impoverished in low-income countries/communities, in a brief on the matter (Global Impact of War in Ukraine on Food, Energy and Finance Systems), the United Nations stated the following:  “Vulnerable populations in developing countries are particularly exposed to these price swings, as they dedicate the larger share of their income to food and energy. The world’s poorest countries tend to be net food importers… export and import measures on trade can further exacerbate rising food prices. At current price levels, FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations] worst-case estimates of increases in undernourishment and food insecurity are also highly likely.” Directly below, is the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) Food Price Index, which shows the drastic spike in food prices between 2021 and 2022. Davos this year featured nearly 2,500 global leaders, more than 50 heads of state and government, and 300 government representatives who shared their vision for the future of the world. In addition to this, over 1,250 leaders from the private sector participated, along with more than 100 Global Innovators and Technology. More than 200 leaders from NGOs, social enterprises, academia, faith-based and religious groups, and labour organisations also attended. The Meeting was covered by over 400 media leaders and reporting press.  It is sufficient to say that it was very well represented! FORGOTTEN LOCAL NEWS As the world and its leaders largely focus on global issues such as rising conflict, food security, climate change and the risk of current and future pandemics, there still exist natural disasters aided by the lack of adequate infrastructure and deteriorating rule of law (in some cases).  In Ghana, for instance, every single year without fail, during the country’s rainy season, several cities are flooded, homes are destroyed, livelihoods are washed away, and lives are often lost. Indeed, the effects of climate change have a role to play in things such as the severity of more recent rains as we observe in South Africa, Uganda, the DRC, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi, and Madagascar par exemplar. In taking a more percipient look, we cannot ignore our poor drainage systems that are filled with plastic waste and other kinds of drain blockages. It is important that we highlight these issues and recognise where the effects of climate change stop, and where the effects of a lack of bold, generation-altering initiatives exist. It starts to paint a worrying picture when we add into the mix the laws concerning waste management that does not address these decades-old serious issues for the average Joe.  Davos could function also as a platform that highlights these more low-hanging issues that can be dealt with in more expedient and plausible manners and with speed. As we look to solve the major issues of the world, we should recall also that these issues are solved for the citizens of the world and for the people of our countries, cities, towns, villages and immediate communities.  At this stage of the advancement of technologies and the knowledge that we share as a global community, lives should not be lost to things we can mitigate, control, and arrest, especially as these said things occur every year without fail. Local flooding and the associated carnage is one thing, but the man-caused local disasters that we can solve are aplenty! I hope you enjoyed the read. Hit me up and let’s keep the conversation going! I read all the feedback you send. Also, feel free to

The success of any country is dependent on the collective behaviour of the nation. Generally, the people’s work commitment, attitude, and hard work help determine their financial profile. However, it’s difficult to determine what should be the direction of efforts. Here we present a secret recipe for leading Africa to an unmatchable success. This secret is, that African cities must be, Regionally Productive, Connected worldwide, and Self-reliant. The development of any country is dependent on the production capacity and optimization of economic activities. This capacity needs to be aligned with modern infrastructure and be self-reliant in terms of resource utilization and foods production. This model can be applied for Africa to develop. However, this approach is only effective when we collectively put in our efforts and ensure each step of the process is taken with due consideration. For Africa to develop, we need to rework our cities to enhance productivity in different aspects of human life.  Let’s understand how this productivity can be achieved and what practices need to be followed. Regionally productive We need to make Africa productive: productive in terms of economic stability; productive in terms of resource utilization; productive in terms of increasing exports and the GDP of the country.  Regionally productive refers to optimizing processes leading to higher output against limited input. It’s about creating an ecosystem that encourages skills, competence, integrity, and technological advancements in the country.  In simple words, we need to review how things are made in our country, the problems with the supply chain, the frictional forces leading to production losses, and how things can be controlled to ensure economic reforms. Further, productivity can be divided into two main parts: economic productivity and labour productivity.  Economic productivity is based on getting maximum output with limited input. It can be done via process optimization and efficient resource utilization. Process optimization means introducing some innovation/changes in the overall production process to ensure all controllable aspects are monitored and managed.  So, it aims to achieve production by incurring the least cost and not compromising the quality aspects of the product. This process aims to produce products at a low price, making them attractive to the international market. Hence, it’s expected to increase exports and durable economic stability. It’s equally important to note that durable economic stability cannot be achieved without exporting outside of the country. The second component of productivity is labour initiatives. This refers to the efficiency of the labour to work and achieve optimal production levels. If labour is productive, more goods will be produced in a limited time. This can be achieved by implementing training, production reforms, technological advancements, and achievement of the learning curve to ensure long-term financial sustainability. A learning curve is when labour gets proficiency in the performance of the task. It helps ensure that the business gets desired productions in a limited time. Considering the demographics and energetic people of Africa, taking timely steps to train (re-skilling and up-skilling) our people can be an excellent step towards achieving a learning curve.  Further, a greater advantage of this efficient and effective labour management, is higher wages (leading to financial prosperity); lower product price(efficient production can lead to lower product costing); higher business profit (skilled labour is expected to improve product quality and enhance the business); and overall stronger economic growth.   Another perspective of being productive is the integration of the different industrial processes. For instance, for a successful export, the business needs to source materials, labour, processes, transportation, energy/fuel, competent staff, and comply with regulations and other aspects of running and effectively operating the business.  Process optimization is about managing operations so that the process is completed quickly with the least resource wastage. Likewise, there is a need to develop a strong mechanism for a transportation system, energy consumption, and regulatory reforms. Regulatory reform is an area where African Governments have a massive role to play. Although, Ghana has a good rating in terms of starting a business and getting electricity which is 85 and 77 respectively, (statistica)however, there is a massive need to improve trading across borders and enforcing of contracts. Trading across borders refers to procedural formalities for imports and exports. This metric is divided into three sub-categories: domestic transport, border compliance, and documentary compliance. The Government of Ghana needs to thoroughly work on these aspects to ensure ease of doing business.  Enforcing a contract refers to the cost and time required for resolving commercial disputes. There is a need to work on the quality of judicial processes and make the overall process effective and efficient.  So, taking steps in terms of business process optimization, economic stability, constructive infrastructure, improving judicial reforms, and import/export formalities is expected to bring productivity to the overall business environment of Africa.  A good idea can be to start by developing some model city where all such facilities are provided to the business. From time to time, such initiatives can be spread across the country. So, to make Africa productive, we need to enhance the productivity of our cities.  Ideally, the test city would need to have several coherent similarities with many other African cities to allow for the most learning and interactions that can more easily be replicated across the continent.   Worldwide connectivity Worldwide connectivity is the basis of the country’s international trade and export performance. If routes and connections of the country with an international market are strong, it leads to higher exports and higher GDP. There are two aspects of looking at worldwide connectivity. The first is the logistics perspective, and the second is international affiliation and trading associations. The logistics perspective refers to how businesses can streamline overall supply chain management. It includes order handling, managing production, inventory management, packaging, storing, and efficiently dealing with the process of exports clearance.   For export clearance, there is a need to maintain a standard of procedural compliance as a protocol for the shipping companies and compliance with an international trade norm.  From a logistics perspective, 38 out of 54 states in Africa have