Doing Things Differently But Urgently

Nana Akufo-Addo

Society owes a lot to the departed for what they contributed to the growth of modern day world. There are many people whose ideas towards the development of our societies were met with resistance when they made their thoughts and ideas public.

Some were killed for blaspheming, while still others were ostracized by society. So many years after their demise, the very ideas which were rejected and for which they suffered, became dominant in the scheme of things over time.

The world certainly would have been far better than it is today if those initial ideas had been taken seriously and worked at.

The world is always full of people who have no idea what a vision is, let alone have one. Many of them however are very influential in their communities such that the communities tend to listen to them more than analysing issues which are brought before them.

Ghana's partisan politics from the pre and post independent periods have contributed immensely to the present state of affairs. Opinions from the minority or opposition were not taken serious by the government.

In fact, in many instances, those who expressed contrary opinions about the way this nation had to be run were detained without trial. Conversely, the opposition in many instances never saw anything good in the ruling government and touted most of the government's policies as bad.

Our situation was compounded by the then raging cold war which existed between the Western world and the then Soviet Union. Ghana's politics was invariably influenced by either Moscow or Washington D.C.

In the melee, the Armed Forces became the unsolicited arbiters of the ideological confusion which was eating up the political parties. They shoved off all the politicians and took over.

In the process, Ghana wobbled from one policy to the other without a clear direction as to where the nation was to go. Fifty-five years after independence, this nation can still not come to terms with what should be considered as a national programme and a political party programme.

Ever since Nana Akufo Addo declared his intention to offer free SHS education for the youth of this country, the NDC and its propaganda machinery has descended on Nana Addo, claiming it is impossible to do that.

So vitriolic are the critics of the policy that perhaps they might have succeeded in convincing many Ghanaians to believe that a free secondary school education is an impossibility.

Last Tuesday, when Nana Addo took the platform offered by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to explain the need for a free Senior High School education for the mass of our people, the apologists and shameless propagandists of the visionless and clueless NDC are now shifting the impossibility of the project to what they consider as accessibility for the youth in as far as SHS education is concerned.

This position of the NDC further exposes their lack of understanding of the problems that confront us as a people in the education sector.

When I left the Middle School in 1974, after dropping out for two years at the primary school level, secondary schools in Ghana had more vacancy that were not filled in most academic years. Indeed, apart from those of us who had passes in the then Common Entrance examinations, many schools had to open the opportunity for what was called the 'Late Entrance Exams'.

In spite of the availability of access, thousands of my generation could not have secondary school education because their parents could not afford.

I was just lucky that for two consecutive years, I had passed the Common Entrance Exams, choosing the same school, then DUNKWA Secondary School, now Boa-Amponsem Senior High School.

The headmaster then, Mr. J.Y. Ackah, could not understand why I had topped those who had selected the school for two years, with a mark of 296 in 1974 and yet, had not gone to the school. He wrote a personal letter to me and invited me to see him at the school's administration block.

It was during this meeting with him that I told him my story as far as financing my education was concerned. But he assured me of a CMB scholarship, since I had obtained the highest marks in the school.

I only got the opportunity of having a secondary school education because there was a God fearing headmaster who would not offer my place to a child of the affluent in the society to the detriment of the poor but brilliant child.

Out of a class of about 35 who sat for the Middle School Leaving Certificate Exams at the time, only two of us attended secondary school. The other one now works with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).

I am sure there are still thousands more who could not, and there are still thousands more who are unable to, and that if we allow the status quo to remain, there will still be thousands more of children who will not have access to Senior High School education, not because the schools are not available, but that their parents cannot afford the financial burden which go with it.

Last Wednesday, I listened to my younger brother Kwamina Duncan, the Central Regional secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), telling his story of how he nearly missed out on SHS education.

That was 1982, according to him. Ten years after I nearly missed out, Kwamina also nearly missed out. In 1992, somebody also nearly missed out, in all these instances, thousands missed out because of financial difficulties.

Yesterday, I heard Opanin Agyekum (Prof) of the University of Ghana also telling his story about how he missed out at Prempeh College.

He was lucky, like many of his generation, there were opportunities at the Teacher Training Colleges. What can we say about the generation of today who miss out?

That is what Nana Addo seeks to address and shall address when Ghanaians crown him as the president come December 7, 2012 and usher him to the Jubilee House in January.

The thousands of children who risk their lives eking out existence on a daily basis on the highways are there because most of them could not progress beyond JHS educational level not because there is no accessibility, but the question of affordability.

We should be grateful. Even though their activities can sometimes be disturbing in some jurisdictions, such youth engage in broad day crimes against innocent citizens.

There are still a few in our society who out of frustrations, tend to destroy themselves and in the process, inflict part of their destructive acts on some of us.

Nana Addo's answer was: 'Any society which neglects its responsibilities towards the youth and consigns them to their own devices………..' This is not to say that when children have access to quality education, all of them become saints, no, but we can assure ourselves that society has played its expected role and the process will reduce the rate of deviants who may engage in unacceptable behaviour out of their anger against society or as a means of taking revenge against the society.

Nana Addo's free SHS COULD NOT HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME. After all, what else can this nation offer its youth but education as their share of the national resources, so that they will grow up to help develop this nation?

Societies suffer when those in whose hands the power to manage the resources for the benefit of all, fail to prudently use those resources for the general good of all.

I have always feared for the future of this country because of the huge number of the youth who would have groped through the dark alleys of life to find their way out.

Not all of them can come out successfully. Ghana has a responsibility towards its youth of today and tomorrow, and education is the key.

Those who want to build skyscrapers before the children have education will sooner than later realise that by the time they complete those edifices, the children had grown into illiterate adults who would have lost their chances.

God bless Nana Addo for his desire to take away the emotional stress on poor children whose aspirations are to have nothing but quality education.

KWESI PRATT'S NEW JOB
My brother Kwesi Pratt seems to have grabbed a new job with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as Propagandist without portfolio.

Or better still Propagandist plenipotentiary. What is this jumping from one electronic media, particularly T.V. station to the other telling Ghanaians about the 1000 communities who are enjoying electricity for the first time in the three years of the NDC?

Yes, Kwesi says 1700 schools under trees have been built in the three years of the NDC. He is again very passionate about the 50% increase in the capitation grant the NDC has given to basic schools.

There is no doubt that some electrification projects are going on in the country, but  I challenge Kwesi to publish which communities have had theirs completed and even all the 1000 communities on the programme.

I again challenge Kwesi to publish the 1700 schools under trees and the communities where they are located in this country for all of us to see.

Kwesi, it is true that the capitation grant has seen a 50% upward adjustment, but when your currency depreciates by about 80%, you have real negative growth of 30 percentage points. I sympathise with his little understanding of economics, Kwesi, little learning is dangerous, particularly when they are meant for propaganda purposes.

By Kwesi Biney