Cadet Officers petition authorities over impropriety
By D.I. Laary
Accra, April 17, GNA - Commanding officers of the national Cadet corps in Ashanti Region, have implored the Director General of Ghana Education Service (GES) to remove the National Cadet Coordinator from office and sanitise the school-based cadet force.
The regional command raised scores of concerns that bordered on favouritism, corruption, abuse of office, sex scandals in camps, lack of regulatory framework, unprofessional teachers handling students and wanton discrimination against the coordinator.
They threatened to sever ties with the national cadet corps established in 1965 if authorities fail to address their concerns against Mr Nicholas Nii Tettey Amartefio who is said to have stayed in office more than 15 years.
The 16-point strongly worded petition was signed by six officers and copied to the Minister of Education, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Inspector-General of Police and Bureau of National Investigations.
The copy of the five-petition document with five appendices available to the Ghana News Agency was also copied to all battalion commanders, Ashanti Regional minister and the police commander as well as Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools and Ashanti Regional Cadet Patron.
The petitioners are made up of coordinators, officers in charge of research, training and operations, logistics and general duties, administration and finance and training and programmes.
They accused, Mr Amartefio, of supervising inconsistent command control and structure and discriminate against teachers in command affairs, regional and national leadership training camps, including local and international exchange and expeditions.
They also claimed teachers are deliberately left out in cadet activities, a situation they say exposed students, particularly females, to vulnerable conditions, indiscipline and risk as they are handled by unprofessional individuals.
The petitioners expressed worry over many instances of sex scandals, which have hit the cadet corps during camps when teachers failed to accompany students.
'We are of the view that since cadetting in Ghana is school-based just like culture, physical education and school representative council, teaching staff are supposed to play a core role in the day-to-day administration of cadet corps…under the auspices and direction of the Regional Directorate,' it said.
'The Ashanti Regional Cadet Corps will no more be under the National Cadet Command but under GES by extension the Ashanti Regional Directorate.'
'We are strongly against the changes in appointment the National Cadet Coordinator, Nicholas Nii Tettey Amartefio, is trying to make in Ashanti Region,' the supplicants said.
Minutes available show the past Regional Director of Education, Mr J. K. Onyinah, in May 2011 agreed with stakeholders among other issues that 'Adult Volunteer Cadets' were not needed in schools - public and private.
Therefore, 'we are baffled as to why the National Cadet Coordinator would want to appoint an Adult Volunteer Cadet to Ashanti Region as Coordinator,' they said quoting portion of the minutes.
The national coordinator, they said, refused and restricted amendments to the constitution officers agreed to at a National Training Leadership Camp at Chiraa in the Brong- Ahafo Region in 2009.
They described as 'very appalling,' a situation where the selection process to leadership programmes was ragged in secrecy and monies demanded from qualified personnel to attend.
In a rebuttal Mr Amartefio said the allegations are false.
He said the cadet corps operates with transparency and accountability and that changes made in the organisation sought to restructure the force.
'Look, I don't appoint as an individual, I do it with the higher command, we do assessment of the candidate,' he said.
He also said government has cut funding to the cadet force and so the body survives on donations, projects and programmes from benevolence.
The petition comes days after the GES inaugurated a 16-member Board including personnel from the Ghana Armed Forces to oversee management and administration of the Cadet Corps in schools.
Mr Jacob Kor, Director-General of GES told the board that the concept of school cadet, when managed well, could help tame indiscipline.
'Apart from helping to instil discipline in students, Cadet Corps equips the youth with basic skills in security, peace building and landscape designing. I urge all schools to have it formed in order to supplement the knowledge that students acquire through formal education for better life,' he said.
GNA