Apostle Paul’s Letter To President Kufuor-Part II

This is a letter from Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by God's will, sent out to advise you on matters affecting the country which you are serving as the president. This is my second letter to you John. Make sure that you read this letter well.

John just last week I asked Brother Michael to deliver a letter to you. I do not know whether you have received the letter because during my days at Greeko-Roman world it would take about 30 days for a letter to arrive from Rome to Jerusalem. I am told that today because of technology you have something called the internet and e-mail which can allow you to send and receive mail within a twinkling of an eye. This was absent during my day at the Greeko-Roman world.

John, in my last letter to you I warned you about corruption which is eating into the very fibre of Ghanaian society. In this letter I want to talk abut different issue now.

I learnt that you believe in full cost recovery. I have not qualms about that. But if you want Ghanaians to pay realistic prices for petroleum products and utilities then nothing stops your government from paying them realistic wages. John, permit me to talk about the vetting of your ministers. I watched all the events carefully under the lens of the electronic microscope. I realised that the whole thing was cosmetics exercise. Why I am writing so? Some of your ministers whom the appointment committee found them “unwholesome” for the work and because your party has the majority in the parliament it flexed its way through. I was expecting that you withdrew their nomination and even institute a committee to find out the truth. Brother Richard W. Anane nomination should have been withdrawn. This will serve as bad precedent for future exercise.

John I recently heard from the Ghana National Union of Students (NUGS) that more than 60% of students at the country's five public universities cannot have on-campus accommodation. They have to go and rent rooms at exorbitant prices. I believe that this problem can be mitigated if your government can pay all the billions of cedis that you have borrowed from the GETFUND within the next six months so that the fund can get some money to give to the universities so that they can build halls of residences for students to occupy.

Concerning education in your country statistics available to me tells me that of all the students who apply for admissions into the tertiary education less than 50% get admitted. What do you do with the remaining 50%? It is time you expanded the facilities at all tertiary institutions in your country so that applicants do not have to knock on the doors of such institutions for years.

Recently I received a letter from a student who told me that he went to the Kumasi Polytechnic to read HND Chemical Engineering for three years. Then after working for three years he applied to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to read BSc Chemical Engineering he had to start at level 100. This is waste of time and resources! I am told that in some part of the world HND holders can do their masters straightaway. Your government is wasting money for training someone 3 years for HND and continue to the university and repeat some of things he has done before. Tell the universities that until they harmonize course public funds shall be withheld from them. Let me congratulate the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) for the initiatives it has taken to run one year degree for HND holders.

John I am concerned about the fat size of your government. This is a drain on your HIPIC country. The appointment of deputy regional ministers is not relevant. I know that article 79 of your 1992 Constitution demands the appointment of deputy ministers as assistants to assist substantive ministers. John what you are doing you are carrying your duty as president but if the Ashanti Region during your first term of office was able to do without deputy regional minister then it means that that the whole country can survive without deputy regional ministers. People are saying that appointment of deputy regional ministers are jobs for the boys. How can a HIPIC country like Ghana have abundance of ministers who have their works been duplicated here and there?

I have received reports that there has been a great animosity between you and Brother Jerry John Rawlings. I am been disturbed about this trading of accusations. I have been told that the churches in Ghana are trying to settle the differences between you and Brother Rawlings. John, you remember that I told the earlier Christians that “if possible live in peace with all men”. How can you say that you love God whom you do not see his face but you see your brother and turn away your face? I was expecting to see you in Vatican with Brother Rawlings when you went for the funeral of Pope John Paul II. If your government has passed the National Reconciliation Commission Act to reconcile Ghanaians and you cannot reconcile the immediate occupant of the stool you are you are occupying then you have not tried. Have you so forgotten what the Psalmist said “behold how and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity?". In Greek philosophy Plato reminds us that “there is something good in the best of your enemy." In the US I am reliably informed that sitting President George Bush has been tapping into the great vault of resources from the minds of former presidents-Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, his own father George Bush Snr and Bill Clinton.

I must say good bye for now. I hope that circumstances will make it possible for me to see you in person. Kindly give my warmest greetings to all Ghanaians especially Brother Jerry John Rawlings. Be of good comfort; be of one mind; and live in peace with everyone.

May the grace of God which passes all understanding be with you now and forever. Amen. Appiah Kusi Adomako is a freelance writer and the president of the Ghana Chapter of Leaders of Tomorrow Foundation. He can be contacted through: Leaders of Tomorrow Foundation, P.O. BOX. KS 13640. Kumasi. Tel 027-740-2467 www.interconection.org/lotfound