Students studying on the floor
The ascension of H.E Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to the High Office of Vice President in 2017 was a watershed moment of pride and renewed optimism among the people of North East Region, arguably one of the deprived regions of the country, having only existed for barely five years. This optimism was anchored on the belief that finally, the region can boast of one of its own at the high table of decision-making. But alas, all that hope seems to have been dissipated and now appears dashed in great measure.
Indeed, Dr Bawumia has remained a phantom of a Vice President to the good people of the North-East as they continue to experience a rapid deterioration of their living standards in all facets of life, especially under someone who prides himself as the ‘SON OF THE NORTH-EAST’. Our fledgling Region continues to lag terribly behind in many areas, such as infrastructure, social amenities and human capital development.
The NDC in the North East Region is very worried but not surprised about the Joy News independent report that reveals that “more than 34,000 pupils in the North-East region sit on the floor to study”. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who passionately spoke to evoke emotions and assumed the undeserved status of a star advocate for a handful of pupils sitting on the floor to study during the Mahama-led government has suddenly abandoned that role at the time he is in a better position to act and not just advocate.
We recall vividly, somewhere in the Upper West Region where he donated a few desks to Kperisi M.A Primary School in the run-up to the 2016 General election, and the pomp and pageantry that greeted that singular act which was laced with obvious political opportunism.
We also remember that in a Joy FM interview with Kojo Yankson on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016, he stated that the government had reneged on its duties and so his philanthropic gesture had brought embarrassment to officialdom.
Today, sadly in your backyard and under your watch as the second gentleman of the land, the North East Region is home to the paucity of basic school infrastructure, so much such that a colossal number of schoolchildren have to resort to studying on the bare floor. This situation not undermines any meaningful teaching and learning but also portends long-term disabling effects on the human capital development of the Region. Yet, Vice President Dr Bawumia who spares no opportunity to tout his government's so-called record in educational infrastructure has turned deaf ears and a blind eye to these reports emanating from his very backyard. Our Vice President and Son of North-East must provide urgent answers to these pertinent questions:
1. Are you no more a philanthropist and a passionate advocate for pupils sitting on the floor to study?
2. Was your supposed ‘philanthropy a cynical ploy calculated to win votes?
3. Do you have a clear conscience for what you berated the Mahama government for and now supervising worse of it, especially at your backyard and across the country today?
4. Do you prioritize your Presidential ambition which has obviously caused you to relegate your hallowed duties as Vice President, above the basic needs of your people?
5. If you can’t solve the basic needs of a Region as small as North East where you hail from, do you think you can solve the problems of an entire country?
We wish to urge you, your Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as you journey on your forlorn quest to lead your party and in the unlikely event Ghana, to look back at your own people to appreciate their worsening predicaments.
In case you are oblivious of the magnitude of deprivation in your own backyard, may we remind you about a few. According to the latest Ghana statistical service report as recent as 2022, a great number of persons in the North East Region live in multidimensionally poor homes with half of the Districts emerging in the top 20 poor districts. The statistical indication is that your people are deprived and most live in abject destitution.
Your excellency, the people of North-East are not asking for a 1D1F, 1V1D, one Constituency, One million Dollars, One District One hospital and all the utopian promises because we are much aware that not a single one of them will be realized as far as you and your inept government remains at the helm of affairs.
We are simply asking for basic needs like water, motorable roads and basic educational infrastructure. We are not asking you to put food on our tables but to provide conditions as you promised to restore us back to our living standards in the Mahama era if not better.
More importantly, Mr Vice President, we wish to remind you about your solemn duty to your people to help lift them from abject and multidimensional poverty. Top of these priorities will be to solve the pervasive problems facing education in the region at all levels as education is key to self-emancipation, empowerment and poverty reduction. The people of North-East Region will not forgive you should you fail to use your good office to tackle and resolve this problem of acute lack of basic educational infrastructure.
