Cry Ivy's Soul

A form two female student of the Agona Swedru School of Business (SWESBU), Ivy Owusu, has killed herself because she owed the school an amount of GH ¢ 190.

If this is not a sad story we do not know what else is. Her mother is said to have told her that she was going to raise a loan to settle the indebtedness when she (daughter) told her about her predicament.

The deceased was only a victim of the crisis the country is passing through; a pathetic reality which is enough to break the heart of the heartless.

Her relatively tender age and gender aggravates our melancholy and forces a feeling of guilt on society and government.

Ivy has committed suicide because of bad governance and greed by those at the helm who have denied her the opportunity of accessing free post-JHS education in a country endowed with adequate natural resources to make that feasible.

She might have died through suicide, but her story is not isolated; many others have done so indirectly because of their inability to fend for themselves. They are unable to access medical attention when they need it and in some instances have to succumb to death.

Had the country been run by good persons with the passion for acceptable governance standards, Ivy might have not died and would have lived to achieve her goals in life in her motherland.

Unfortunately, that is not to be and she had to die ignominiously in an uncompleted house by hanging over a paltry GH ¢ 190 even as the nation's crooks flaunt their ill-gotten wealth in the streets and in the plush suburbs of the nation's capital and regional capitals and even abroad.

Ivy, it is certain, could not bear what could be an embarrassment at school and found the world inclement to continue to live in. It can only be imagined the anguish of the mother as she goes through the reality of her death, not through disease but indebtedness at school.

Her mates at school and even the school authorities must be experiencing nightmares as much as we are thinking about her and her painful and regrettable end.

No mention is made of the deceased's father, ample indication that she was being raised or supported by a single parent. It is a picture of the trend in many homes these days which exerts excessive pressure on mothers.

For those who are unable to cope, try as they do, their children end up dropping out of school, becoming prey for irresponsible men in the streets.

It took the self-immolation of one man in Tunisia to trigger a nationwide demand for change in the status quo. It is instructive that Ivy committed suicide at a time when the crisis in the country has reached a crescendo today, as workers hit the streets in a nationwide protest.

May the soul of the girl rest in peace and her death prompt a rethink of government about the importance of good governance in our beloved country. Cry our Ghana and Ivy's soul.