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The razing down of the official residence of former President Jerry John Rawlings brings to the fore the one area of life in which Ghanaians have been found wanting for a long time. This is the culture of maintenance. The phrase was coined in the mid-eighties though its manifestation in offices, official bungalows and, indeed, almost everything owned by the state, ante-dated the year of coinage. Like children, we hold aloft the newest toy, gingerly like an egg, in the first few months of acquisition. When the excitement wears off, the paint on the toy starts peeling off, followed by a screw that got out of joint, on and on and on. Soon the whole toy comes crumbling. Unlike other countries, even in the Third World which have been able to preserve places of historical significance and monuments housing members of the society who get elevated by virtue of their unique contributions, Ghana has not fared too well in that direction. Those houses built on stilts by the British colonial government have a special place in the nation�s architectural history. If for nothing, they are a snapshot of historical moment in time. Film makers documenting periods of the nation�s past, often use such edifices to capture that past. For tourism purposes, therefore, it is not only the forts and castles that require preservation, but everything that is a reminder of Ghana�s past. The Elmina and Cape Coast Castles have been recognized as one of the world�s heritage monuments. That recognition attracts a certain level of sponsorship by UNESCO which contributes towards their preservation. Many in Ghana wonder, however, if without the UNESCO sponsorship the same level of enthusiasm would have gone into their preservation. Indeed, these cynics suspect that but for the financial returns (via UNESCO grants and tourism receipts), the two castles may have been treated like pearls before people who do not recognize their importance. These are not kind words to be said about any nation. That is why we plead today that considerations of beauty, history and tourism aside, Ghana must be a nation with an admirable culture of maintenance. There are very, very few monuments in Ghana that attract any serious level of maintenance. We still have not recovered from the shock that the residence of a former President could catch fire and, within hours, be totally razed to the ground. Our shock is not that it could catch fire; far be it from us to be so presumptuous. Our shock is that the state could put its former President in a wooden structure whose wood has not been treated to withstand fires. Years ago, our building scientists at Samreboi in the Eastern Region, designed fire-resistant houses built with wood which they used to display during international trade fairs in Accra. In South Africa, there are thatch roofed summer-huts into which have been placed sprinklers. They are activated and start spraying water onto the thatch the moment the surrounding heat goes above a certain temperature. Wooden houses are strong and beautiful. With care and maintenance, they last forever, able to withstand fire and pests. Are we also being told that the house was without fire extinguishers? In the residence of a former Head of State if there were, had the security operatives been trained to use them? It is embarrassing that we should be asking these questions in 2010, decades after the country�s Fire Service was modernized, a Service that began a programme, long ago, to educate groups of people about the handling of fires and fire equipment. Perhaps it would be pertinent asking: whose duty is it to ensure that important places such as residences of former Heads of State are not only equipped with firefighting equipment, but also have people in these places trained to handle them?