BY RETIRING ACTING REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION OF THE UPPER WEST REGION
The acting Upper West Regional director of education Mr Iddrisu Mahama is involved in an act that has been variously described as the kick of a dying horse.The acting regional director has used and continued to use transfer as a weapon of destruction against perceived opponent within the educational section in the region.The reason for the latest action stemmed from the fact that come January 2015 the Octogenarian whose birth date has been a subject of controversy has now finally agreed to go home and rest for the rest of his stay on earth,a situation that was never to be agreed upon by the acting regional director of education some few month back.But the acting regional director will not go in peace as he has lined up over one hundred and forty teachers within the Wa municipality he perceived as the master minds for the true revelation of his actual birth date and so they must sufer while he goes away.His move of transferring them is based on the false allegation that standaed of education has fallen since 2011 when he Iddrisu Mahama took over as the acting regional director of education.And the affected teachers will also not budge as the have been flexing their muscles to resist any transfer which does not follow the stipulations of the Ghana Education Service and have organized a press conference to register their displeasure on the move to transfer them
According to the affected teachers the motive of the press Conference is to establish from their Leaders and all Stakeholders of Education in the Region at large and the Municipality in particular, whether the transfer of One Hundred and Forty Four (144) hardworking Teachers comprising 84 women and 60 men after the First Term of the 2014 /2015 Academic falls within the realm of the GES per its rules and regulations and whether this is the panacea or antidote to arresting the downward trend in the performance of pupils and students in our Pre-Tertiary Institutions .The answer is absolutely a big NO.
The Ghana Education Service, like all other Public Services in Ghana has Schemes of service and Conditions of service. Transfers are normal Institutional arrangements but to say that 144 Teachers within the Municipality have no Classes to teach is not only laughable but absolutely beats the imagination of all which cannot be substantiated in any way or form and something that is totally outmoded at its birth with the cut of its umbilical cord.
Apart from the bad,wrong and ill timing of this intended transfer, the affected teachers are assuring the powers that be that they will not move an inch unless they are fully paid the appropriate transfer grants due them.
The argument put forward by the teachers in the Wa Municipality is that just a week to the end of the first term of the 2014/2015 Academic year, two basic schoolhead teachers namely Mr. Peter Yuorinuo and Madam Rosena Die were forced out of the Wa Municipal Model primaries ‘A’ and ‘B’ as a result of an alleged disciplinary issue. An issue nobody can substantiate. Worse of all, no Disciplinary Committee was established to investigate the allegation. These innocent but voiceless head teachers will now teach at Kpongu and Kperisi primaries respectively from the Second Term of the 2014/2015 Academic year. Is this the required way of doing things?
The question on the lips of many is: what Educational System are we operating as a Region? How long shall we remain silent in this our current democratic dispensation? Who is supposed to bring our acting Regional /Municipal Director to order? Is he really untouchable, solid and versatile as he himself claimed on several platforms? Well Mr. Iddrisu Mahama has on several platforms describes himself as the demi-god of the Upper West Region and many are now tempted and compelled to believe that claim of his Immortality since he does what he wants, who he wants, when he wants, where he wants it done and daring all consequences.
It is also on record that at a meeting with these innocent teachers on Tuesday, the 23rd of December 2014,the acting Regional cum Municipal Director of Education ,Mr. Iddrisu Mahama bemoaned the decline in performance of pupils in BECE since2011. He did not allow any one of the teachers to make any contribution .But funny enough Mr Iddrisu Mahama assumed office as the acting Regional Director of Education in the Region in 2011. What a misnomer of a situation?.
It can be stated without any shred of doubt that despite the decline in performance within the Municipality from 2011 to 2014, the Municipality stood tall among the other nine Districts in the Upper West Region within the said period. The issue of education decline is therefore aRegional canker and not just Wa Municipal as he wanted the world to believe. The acting Regional Director must therefore take absolute responsibility of ineptitude and awesome performance and stop attributing blames on innocent teachers in the region.
Aside of the aforementioned issues Mr. Iddrisu Mahama, has just some few more days to leave Office as acting Regional Director, precisely on the 19th of January he will good bye the Upper West Regional Educational sector as acting Municipal cum Director of Education, acting District Director of Lambussie/ Kanni District and the general overseer of Piina Senior High School, to mention but a few.
It is on record that our Mr Iddrisu Mahama ought to have retired in 2013 or February, 2014 and currently as we speak, his name has appeared again on the 2015 Retiree list with serial number 117, signed by Mr. Anthony Boateng, the acting Director: Human Resource Management and Development (HRMD) of the GES, as Mr. Mahama Iddrisu and as Municipal Director of Education with his rank as Director II.This without any contradiction, is contrary to the 2014 list where his name appeared as Iddrisu Mahama, acting Regional Director and Director II as his rank, where he managed to maneuvered his way out previously.
The whole world wants to know how one person can be born thrice and retired twice within the same Region and in the same Country. Is he one of the many ghost names worrying government pay rolls?
All in all, Iddrisu Mahama must be congratulated for contributing his quota to the development of the Upper West Regional educational sector and also wish him a sound retirement.
But he must not use the dying amber days of his active service to simply victimize the voice of voiceless and the defenders of the defenseless as the one hundred and forty four teachers transferred are mere victims of hidden circumstances.They are not the cause of any falling standards or decline in performance in the Upper West Region.The current Regional Director of education is expected to cast the net wide to unravel the canker that is eating deep into the very fabric of Education in the Region. The current oppression and suppression with Draconian laws and policies by Mr Iddrisu Mahama as acting Regional/Municipal Director must pave way to real administrative and managerial tactics that will redeem the fallen image of education within the Municipality in particular and the Region at large. Once upon a time, the legendary Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of blessed memory said “Independence with a Dagger was better than Servitude with Tranquility”.
The liberation struggle continues unabated and all hands must be on deck.
Ladies and gentlemen, our call remains Now or Never.
Long Live Wa Municipal, long live the Upper West Region and long live Ghana.
Thanks for your rapid response and patience.
…………………………….
ISSAHAKU ABDUL–AZIZ
0200613803, 0507425874, 0201978038
(Organizing Secretary)
VICTIMIZED TEACHERS
GES
WA MUNICIPAL
