"Rules Are Meant To Be Broken" - Community Dynamics

Laws are meant to guide us as people to do the right things and not cause harm to others we live in a society with. From where I come from and stay, almost everyone lives on the principle of “rules are meant to be broken”. The few who try to live by the laws that have been set up by the government and community leaders are ironically seen as the bad nut.

Two days ago, at night, the lights in my community went off. The reason we have been given is that the community has overloaded the transformer we have been provided with while some members have also been tempering with that same transformer. I wouldn’t disagree with what the electricity authority is saying because I know it is true. On one hand, I blame the community members who ask their electricians to do it and on the other hand, I put blame on the electricity providers. When you have a problem and you call these people for assistance, they hardly tend to your grievances on time. That is why people have taken it upon themselves to solve their own problem thus, always tempering with the provided transformer.

We have been told time and time again not to do illegal connections but all these falls on death ears. The amount of people in the community who have illegally connected to the power supply is vast. It is the main reason why our transformer is overloaded which usually causes our power to go on and off. Well, this time the transformer has given up on us and decided to go off totally.

The electricity providers have decided to flex their muscles and “punish” us in a way. Yesterday, sources have it that they said the transformer being out of service is as a result of the community members and not until our Assembly man writes a letter to their office promising we will put an end to the illegal connections and overloading, they wouldn’t attend to us. When this piece of information was made known to all those affected, we were pissed because they said it is the responsibility of the Assembly man to control the overloading. We didn’t understand because how is it his responsibility and not theirs. However, we later realized the information was not properly distributed and so plans to embark on a demonstration today have been halted.

Instead, a delegation has been sent to the office of the electricity providers to reach an amicable understanding so power can be restored as soon as possible. From where this is headed, I believe we are as community member are going to be tasked with looking out for people who temper with the transformers and those that are connected illegally.

The problem in Ghana is that when you want to enforce laws by reporting the offenders like those who illegally connect, you are seen as a snitch and as we all know, “snitches get stitches”. And no one wants to get stiches. So, I see new laws coming to my community this week or next week which I hope we as community people will be able to live by.

Other laws that need to be severely looked at is littering and polluting the environment. My community looks like refuse dump since most people have refused to damp their refuse at the dump. They just damp their waste anywhere at all polluting the community. The sad part is that when it rains, the rains and wind carry the refuse from different places and deposit them outside my house. It’s sad because my parents make arrangements to properly dispose off our refuse but the refusal of others to do same makes our surrounding look dirty.

Laws should be enforced to punish people who are seen to deliberately pollute the environment. It will help us stay away from some diseases that are transmitted through dirty environments.

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So, what are some of the laws in your communities that need enforcing or change? Let’s hear it. You can do so by participating in the April Inleo calender.

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This is my response to day 9 of the April InLeo monthly calendar. I encourage you to join.

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All images belong to me.

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Thank you.