his Free SHS Concept will Fly .
The story is told of one son of Adam who was pestering a Delilah, daughter of Eve for sexual favours. This loved sick son of Adam had boasted of his prowess in bedmatics and had vowed to “mesmerize” the Delilah of a lady should she fall into his dragnet. He added that he would eventually maul Delilah beyond recognition. Finally, the lady gave in, and do you know what happened? The Don Juan who had been knocking persistently failed to fly when Delilah opened her gate for him.
Where was all his boastings, “akakabinsem” “atuturasem” and “paapido paapido”? They deserted him at the point of entry. So shall it be on the day of reckoning when Ghanaians decide which of the Presidential Candidates will fly.
Another story is told of some three Nigerians who had gone to seek political asylum in Germany. They had destroyed all their papers while they were aboard the plane and told the immigration officers on arrival that they were not Nigerians. But the Officers knew their trade. They took them into a room and switched off all the lights. After thirty minutes, the lights were switched. “Up NEPA” yelled the jubilant Nigerians. The cat was out of the bag. They were indeed Nigerians.
And so the battle has been fought and won and Akufo Addo’s free Quality SHS Education policy was given a further boost after Care taker President, John Mahama failed to impress when he appeared before a wide audience to take his turn at the IEA debate. So abysmal was his performance that Miss Angela Mensah, the 8 year old Peace Ambassador could not help but shake her head as the President deviated from answering her question.
President Mahama had no excuse as he was the last to appear on the show after the three other Aspirants had had their turns. He had the advantage of hind side and many were those who thought he was going to excel. But alas, when it mattered most, John Mahama, like out Don Juan could not rise to the occasion. He left most of the audience disappointed. He could only come up with one single policy. And when he was asked of what policy he had for Ghanaians, his only response was “The Policy of this administration is that Free Education is not possible”.
But before going into the abysmal performance of our Caretaker President with a Spare Tire as his Vice, I would like to digress a little and comment on some adverts being used by the NDC to help in propagating their nefarious ideas. In one of such advert, a man is heard castigating the Kufuor led administration with this expression: “For Good Eight Years” … How could Eight Good Years be evil? Do they know what they are talking about? And you have a so-called Communications Expert as President “John Mahama, thank you ooo. You have done well by eulogizing Kufuor’s administration for the good work it did in 8 years. Thank you, John, you don butter my bread. Meda wase, Oyiwa don, eshe oo.”
We have another one in which Basic School pupils who are enjoying Free Education at their level are saying they don’t like free education at the SHS Level. Is it not an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians to use these pupils who do not feel the pinch of what parents go through to get money to pay schools fees to tell us they repudiate the free education concept at the SHS Level? Again how can they know the benefits of free education at the SHS level since they have not yet reached that level? Wouldn’t it have been better to have used SHS students instead of Basic School Pupils? And if it has to be rejected, would it not been reasonable for them to tell us they reject the free education concept at the Basic Level? At Least, that would have been a better alternative. Do the pupils know the pains parents got through in order to raise money to pay the school fees of their wards?
The only explanation one could offer is that these are children of the privileged few in the NDC like Allotey Jacobs whose tenure as a Board Member of ECG fetches him more than One Billion Cedis a Month as revealed in Crusading Guide Anas Aremeyaw’s investigation into affairs of Electricity Corporation of Ghana. Only children of privileged few could come up with such effusions.
By the way, who will spew out toffee/candy from the mouth even if he/she one is crying? None! But today the NDC is telling Ghanaians that sweet and good things are not for Ghanaians and it will use every means including “minimal force” to deny us our bonuses and even bring the good things from our stomachs if we have made the mistake of swallowing those toffees.
But are you surprised? You shouldn’t for the advent of the NDC into our body polity has done incurable damage to our social, economic and spiritual values in life. Do you recall the incident which occurred during the rehearsal for Our National Independence Day Parade in Koforidua a year or two ago where a student was struggling for possession/control of the national flag with his tutor? Yes, that is how bad the situation has deteriorated to.
You see, desperate situations demand desperate measures and that is exactly what the Nefarious Destructive Cancer is doing. Yes, the NDC has shown by its recalcitrant attitude to Akufo-Addo’s Free Quality Education that it is desperate to cling on to power by hook or crook despite clear evidence that the standard of the average Ghanaian has been negatively impacted upon within the last the last four years.
Political Parties tell Ghanaians through their manifestos what they intend to do for them. They sell their agendas to the people. It is not the duty of a political party to attack another party on the flimsy excuse that the policy is unattainable. You can criticize the way the policy is being implemented, but you cannot say it is not possible to implement it. The fact that you lack the expertise to implement it does not mean that another person cannot do it. Why do we have specialization? In Medicine we may have Doctors who are General Practitioners. But we may equally have specialists like surgeons, ophthalmologists, Pediatricians, Gynecologists, Anesthetists and a whole lot of specialists.
But from the debates going on, the NDC has proved to be all General Practitioners with no specialists in their midst, whereas the New Patriotic Party abounds in Specialists. And this is what makes the Party tick. NDC is full of lame ducks.
The NDC talks of putting structures in place before implementing the Free SHS Education Policy. I ask this question: “Did the Party put in place infrastructures before creating New District/Municipal/Metropolitan Assemblies? No! So why is the nefarious Contraption fond of speaking from both sides of the mouth?
I have a friend on Face book but because I do not have her permission, I am not going to reveal her identity. She stays in Takoradi with her mother and other siblings. She lost her father some few years ago and attends one of the Secondary schools in Cape Coast. She is nineteen years old and is traumatized by the fact that her mother could not get the requisite amount to register her for next years’ WASSSCE. If Akufo Addo’s free SHS policy has been in operation, the calamity that has befallen her would have been averted.
I did not have the opportunity to witness the President make his boring presentation in the form of ananse story on television because NDC’s ECG punished us by plunging the area I was at that time into total darkness. But I have since read about his ananse story presentation.
But I learnt the president came to the “Examination Centre” with well prepared “expo” on his I-Pad. If that is so, I think it was a very bad example for our youth who are the future leaders of the country. Which of the flag-bearers who had earlier appeared at the IEA debates relied on the use of external aids to help him scale the obstacle? Not even Hassan Ayariga did that. And for a President who prides himself as being the Best Communication Expert in the country to resort to such unorthodox means to project his image is condemnable. He has by that “criminal” behavior exposed himself as a cheat and a gargantuan one for that matter. He should bow down his head in shame. What legacy are Mahama and the NDC leaving for the Ghanaian Youth? That the end justifies the means? Did President Mahama acknowledge the source of information he was unprofessionally pouring out to the public?
The President talked of building two Hundred SHS before he will think of implementing the free SHs policy. Well, the saying goes that if you stay long at the river, the currents will sweep you away. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen to the NDC. How long does it intend to stay in power? Its days are numbered and President John Dramani Mahama and his Ministers must begin to write their Handing over Notes, because a Great Tsunami on a gargantuan scale will soon sweep them away from the corridors of power. And the most annoying thing was that the President and his team could not tell us the amount involved and how they intend to implement that. Cheat, that’s what a colleague of mine described them.
The President is not well abreast with the policy that pertains to our education in the country, otherwise why should he say he would establish some Training Colleges to train Teachers to teach in SHS as a result of a likely surge in student enrollment with the introduction of free quality SHS education. How could the President commit such a fallacy? Why should he be so unformed like that? Is he not aware that teachers from the Training Colleges do not teach in Senior Secondary School but at the basic level? That statement coming from our Care-taker President must be regarded as the greatest joke of the century, just like the one by their member that “the cedi is appreciating the dollar”.
Again the President says there are shortages of teachers in the system and that is why there is the need to train more. But Dr Ahmed Jinapor counters that argument and says there are even unemployed graduate teachers in the system. He buttressed his point with relevant facts and figures.
Again the caretaker president walked down the death alley when he said their “vision for education is in the constitution and so our work is cut out for us. He made another baloney of a statement when he said, “it is not a single person vision, and nobody should attempt to steal the vision of the constitution drafters”. When I read his statement, I said to myself “Great People with great vision are born with such traits, but the pessimists and visionless characters are there to destroy what have been bestowed unto them by others. President John Mahama is behaving like the Eight men sent out by Moses to go and spy the land of Canaan who reported back that the land could not be captured from the occupants because they had the children of Anak (giants) living with them. They said they looked like grasshoppers in their midst. John Mahama, like the Eight Spies lacks wisdom and so he is afraid of plunging into the future without any vision in case something bad happens. Nana Akufo Addo and the others like Joshua and Caleb is telling Ghanaians, “Look, folks, give me your mandate. I believe in my capabilities. I have this insatiable desire to implement this free Quality Senior High School Concept. I believe I can fly. Believe in me, and I will take you to the Promised Land” This is Akufo Addo speaking the language of the common people.
You need a man of vision, a charismatic personality to implement the vision in the constitution. You just don’t sit idly by and expect the constitution to take you to El Dorado. Nkrumah wouldn’t have been able to implement his free education concept if he had allowed the mirage of problems to becloud his sense of reasoning. It is like a person attempting to scale over a pole vault. His only instrument is the long pole. Mere looking at the height will scare you. And that is why Mahama is afraid to plunge unto the unknown. With such a person at the head, how can you expect to make any progress?
I am extremely shocked at Mahama’s intransigence in the face of numerous suggestions as to how to go about its implementation. His statement that Nana is attempting to steal the vision of the constitutional drafters is the most “huhundous” and nonsensical statement to come from the mouth of a President. Not even Master Sergeant Doe nor Field Marshall Iddi Amin would have made such a reckless statement. I don’t have a better word for it. The Constitution is there to guide but how can you implement what is in the constitution if you do not come up with a policy? It is no wonder that John Mahama’s single policy since he became a Care taker President has been his phobia for Free Senior High School Education.
Indeed we need men of vision, men who will empower others and look them eyeball to eye ball and reassure them in these words “Yes, I believe you too can fly”. We do not need ignoble men like President John Mahama who are devoid of any sense of direction and whose obsession for power lies in what they can “fleece” from the already manacled and emaciated people they have caged in their political zoos.
When our infantile and clueless President comes out with another amorphous statement that “it is not a single person’s vision and that nobody should attempt to steal the vision of the constitution drafters” it reveals the various confused ideas fighting for recognition and total control of his mind. The President is confused, his cabinet is confused, his MPs are confused and the entire Party machinery is also in confused state. And so you have what is referred to as a political lock jam and you need a person with extra sensory perception to expunge the numerous ideas fighting for total control of the person’s mind. Unfortunately, the NDC lacks such “exorcists” and the result is that the problem persists until it becomes chronic.
Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah lived ahead of his time; the same applies to Dr J. B. Danquah, Dr K. A. Busia. S.D. Dombo, Dr Kweigyr Aggrey, Dr Ephraim Amu, Nene Azu Mate Kole, Peter Ala Adjetey, Professor Sai, Dr Konotey-Aholu, President J. A. Kufuor, Dr Kwabena Nketiah, Wilberforce Kwadwo Mfum, Abedi Pele, Mary Koranteng Asante, Rev. Kwame Amamoo, Arch-Bishop Peter Akwasi Sarpong, Archbishop Peter Derry, Arch-Bishop Turkson, Very Rev. Dr Frimpong Manso, Bishop Emmanuel Asante Antwi, Sheik Nuruden Sharabutu, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo Dankwa, and others too numerous to mention.
Go to Lagos State and see the revolution that is taken place there under the youthful and indefatigable leadership of Babatunde Fashola, Governor of the State. Yes, Fashola has brought development to every nook and cranny of the State with the Constitution as his guide. Many Governors have come and ruled Lagos State, but Fashola surpasses them all, for his has put the state on track. And that exactly is what our charismatic leader, Nana Akufo Addo will do when he assumes the reigns of governance on 7th January, 2013.
But President John Mahama and the Nefarious Destructive Cancer have a hidden agenda to keep Ghanaians in the state of illiteracy knowing that if the floodgates of education are opened to Ghanaians with the introduction of free Senior High School education, the eyes of the people will be opened and they will see all the vicious acts of manipulation and intimidation being perpetrated on them by a gang of looting marauders who believe it is their birthright to rule and dominate all other people but themselves. Yes, they want to keep the youth in a position of servitude so that they will once again dictate to them the type and standard of living they should lead thereby ridicule them and all Ghanaians.
But we shall resist all their nefarious attempts to foist Mahama’s clueless agenda on the rest of us. Here was a man who went to the “examination entre” armed with “expo” but couldn’t answer the simplest question from a mere 8year old Peace Ambassador, Angela Mensah. She wanted to know how the President intended to make education accessible for poor people like her. For an answer the 54 year old “youthful” President went round and round by talking about irrelevant things. The extra resources available will be used to reduce the burden on parents by standardizing the fees, an indication that Senior High School Education was not going to be free now or in the foreseeable future.
All that John Mahama and his NDC think about is standardization of fees. But they are greatly mistaken, for there are eggs and there are eggs. It is not every egg which can be fertilized and hatched into a chicken. There is no way Government can bring about standardization in fee payment. You cannot have a Senior High School in my Holy Village to pay the same fees as students pay at Achimota, Prempeh, Mfantsipim, Adisadel or Aburi Girls. No, that’s not possible. It will not be possible now or the immediate future. If that is the case, the President should explain to Ghanaians why Schools are grouped into different categories and JSS candidates are asked to select schools from different categories like A, B, and C. So you see John Mahama’s argument is neither here nor there and did not in any way answer the little girl’s question. The President like the son of Adam who was mentioned at the beginning of this piece failed woefully. In fact, he deviated from answering the question and if I were one of his examiners, I will score him very low on content. Overall, I will score him 8 out of 40. He deserves not more than that.
The posture and utterances of President John Mahama and the NDC reveals their lack of concern for girls from deprived homes like that of our Peace Ambassador, Angela Mensah. If President John Mahama could coach and intimidate Basic School pupils into saying they were repudiating the Free Senior High School concept, what other hope is there for poor people like our young and Peace Ambassador, Angela Mensah and many of her kind? None!
Ghanaians have made the unpardonable mistake of making John Mahama superintend over all facets of their life including Education. And he is destroying the foundation which took many years to build. But I totally agree with him on one aspect and that is education at the SHS level must be made progressively free. But when do we start? How long are Mahama and his moribund NDC party going to remain in power? We need to begin now and work progressively to make the concept a reality. We cannot postpone to tomorrow what we can do for the youth of the country today. The time to do so is now.
The Man of Vision, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo says he is battle ready to be the harbinger of this good news. The pessimists led by their clueless leader, John Mahama see the sons of Anak in the policy and that The President looked like a grasshopper when he stood amongst the children of Anak. He is acting the role of the eight men sent by David to spy the land of Canaan. They returned a verdict of no hope. In other words John Mahama, who had enjoyed a fee free education at the secondary school level has exhibited his selfish nature of refusing to extend such courtesies to his less fortunate brethren in other parts of the country.
Yes, John Mahama and his rudderless NDC priority is to pay fraudulent judgement debts to themselves and their cronies. They put it in the national budget and ensured that the entire money got spent. Such deliberate ploy has affected all other sectors of our social and economic life.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo’s priority is Free Quality Senior High School Education. He will put it in the National budget, for the fulcrum of a country’s development is education. It is not going to be easy for there will be many challenges during its implementation especially at the initial stage. But Nana is focused. He tells Ghanaians to read his lips. Does it give you any trait of betrayal?
Between Nana and Mahama, whom do you trust?
For me, my bet is on Nana.
Daniel Danquah Damptey (damptey_daniel@yahoo.com) 0243715297.
