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Happy republic day to you in advance. I wish I could say congratulations to the nominees for the State Awards, but unfortunately I cannot. That is simply because while there are some among them who deserve to be honoured, there are quite a number who, like what happened last year, have together with this year's devalued the significance, reverential status and credibility of the State Awards.

Forgive me, but as I heard the nominees been read out on radio and later when I grabbed the dailies, I was inclined to ask what at all qualifies one to be recognised and decorated with the State Award. Do not get me wrong, the president has all the power and authority to do what did, and I think that he deserves commendation for that. I am sorry however to say that sometimes, these decisions must be well thought through and his advisers may be the ones to blame here.

Last year when a number of people were honoured to commemorate the 50th anniversary of our Independence, it without doubt marked the beginning of the devaluation of the awards scheme. It was for the simple reason that the nominees list which was made up of many hardworking and dedicated people who worked and contributed significantly to the forward march of the country, was diluted by a list of many other non-deserving persons.

I remember many discussions at the time about the contribution and appropriateness of the latter group of nominees especially when compared to other more qualified persons within the industry, profession and 'club' of the nominees. And the large number of awardees led some to say that very soon almost everybody in the country will be honoured.

Just when we had forgotten about that, a list for 2008 is announced and it generates so much controversy because the country's major opposition leader is included. It is good the opposition kept quite on that, because I am not sure what justifiable arguments they could possibly make. But the outbursts and politicisation of that singular nomination shocked many including the moderates in the ruling party. More shocking was the claim by some that the president is out to derail the campaign of his party's candidate by deliberately honouring the country's former Vice President. The former Vice President is leading the major opposition party to the polls.

One interesting argument by some ruling party operatives was that, why honour the former Veep when the person under whom he served has not been awarded. For them, they will be much more comfortable to see the man they love to hate for purely political reasons (and no one can fault them for that, because the reverse is also true) honoured than his former Vice. But is the Award not about contribution rather than seniority?

And it came to pass that the president decided to satisfy the ruling party, because the allegations and unprintable words used against him in the wake of the release of the earlier list, should worry any smart mind.

Now, the ruling party's candidate has been listed and will be decorated on July 03rd. So will many others added probably to satisfy various groups rather than a recognition of their contribution to this country. The opposition party had its leadership in parliament listed (they've all declined the award) together with another opposition presidential candidate. Then there are some former ministers of state and government functionaries including the person who signed the statement announcing the list of award winners. Then there are others whose relevance even within their chosen fields is difficult to determine looking at the talents, expertise, contributions and stature of many others in that field.

The chair of the EC, the King of Asante among other distinguished personalities will be decorated on the same stage as these people... while other more deserving people including some suffering and long serving teachers, farmers, civil servants etc are ignored.

As Ambassador K.B. Asante said, the long list of awardees included people whose only reason for nomination is because they were ministers, and it makes one wonder what the criteria or criterion for nomination was. For all intents and purposes, is being a former minister enough to merit a state award?

The tenure of the present IGP has recorded some rather difficult times for the police service including the cocaine controversies, which even got him appearing before Mrs. Wood's committee. There's been police brutalities, police murders, rise in crime etc forcing the new Interior Minister to issue some orders, or? And he deserves a state honour for all that? Don't get me wrong. The IGP and his men have and are doing their very best, but does he deserve an award for that best?

What about Andrews Awuni? Can you fathom that? Kwabena Agyepong may be excused and explained together with others as a recognition of their contribution to the work of the NPP both in opposition and in government, but Mr. Awuni I am not sure.

Same way I am not sure what informed the nomination of Randy Abbey. He joins others from the journalism profession recognised for their contribution to the country's growth. I was lost for words completely. He's in the same league with Malik Baako and Gina Blay? Where veteran Mrs. Yeboah Afari of the Ghanaian Times was last year?

Of what value is the State Award then? As K. B. Asante said, maybe because we do not know the criteria, I better keep quiet. But let me ask? If indeed, we need that long list and necessarily wanted to recognise people from various professions necessarily, then what about Kofi Coomson, Ebo Quansah, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh? And when we come to broadcasting, what about Komla Dumor?

Tell you what? I do not think that we need to recognise all these people just because they do what they do, period. It makes it difficult to defend the position held by some and I also tend to agree largely that the award has lost some value. Thank God the awardees are forgotten about after the ceremony and have no initials against their names when written out as we have in the UK and elsewhere.

And I think that the Otumfuo should in fact have been nominated and decorated last year both for himself and on behalf of the Asante kingdom. Don't you think so? But to nominate him now and list against his name the fact that he chairs the committee of eminent persons on Dagbon is a disservice. He should have been recognised as the King of the Asantes and for the many far reaching contributions he has made both to his kingdom and the nation. We all know that the Dagbon matter is far from resolved and the committee's last decision was even contested by one of the parties, which means they are far from resolution. Yet we are going to award persons on the committee?

As for those who are leading their news bulletins by questioning why the former president was not included, now he has and he says NO. What do we say to him? I dare say that the originators probably knew that is what will happen but said let's go ahead. Even if it were me, I would do same. But why was he excluded earlier, same way the NPP Candidate was excluded?

I am possibly sure that his earlier exclusion from the list was exciting news for growing non-entities in the Volta Region like the opposition party's representative for the South Tongu Constituency. Kenneth Dzirasah, who like many other politicians of our country, mushroomed from no where into limelight and to riches, can today out of disrespect to the institution that has made him, afford to blurt out insulting words.

The Chronicle two weeks ago reported him claiming that the former president who is the founder of the party of which he's an MP, has more or less wronged him, and therefore he'll not campaign for the party's parliamentary candidate for South Tongu. He is rumoured to be supporting the activities of the ruling party's candidate for the constituency who also doubles as DCE for the area. He has gone ahead to attempt lobbying the youth of the area to vote against his party's candidate.

This is a man who has no strong footing in the constituency and has only managed a three-term reign because of the party he's representing and not his personal stature. Can that person seriously help anybody win his election? If that were possible, his chosen heir will have won the primaries, or?  Continued    Source: Daily Express

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