School girl writes manifesto to contest as President of Ghana

It has been said that it is only the dead person who has no dreams and that every living person including the beggars on the street have dreams to move from their current status to a more desired stage.

It is in line with this that a 13 year old girl, Martha Boateng, a pupil of the Roses’s Memorial Academy at Lapaz near Achimota has made available to me (Godwin Allotey) a 10 point document captioned ‘My Dream for Ghana’ being her vision for Ghana, should she be the President.

Below is what she writes;

1.    If I become the President of Ghana i would first of all make sure that children selling along the streets are stopped and an avenue created for them to go back to school in order to become better people in the future.

2.    Secondly, I would build more houses to accommodate them especially those who sleep on the street as well as those who have no where to lay their heads or even afford three square meals.

3.    Thirdly, I would make sure that Senior High School (SHS) education is made free, compulsory and accessible to all.

4.    Another thing I will do should I be the president of Ghana is that I would build more libraries in each community so that children will always go there to read,  learn and expand their knowledge base.

5.    Again, I would make sure the Ministry of Education mandates each district education directorate to organize in every month at least two (2) spelling and easy competitions as well as organize district-wide free extra classes for pupils. 

By these there would be less poor performances in internal and nationally organized examinations such as the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

6.    I  learnt that although some companies have been mandated to keep our cities and towns clean, spare Zoomlion, filth still engulfs the nation. 

For this reason, I will provide refuse bins at vantage points and create avenues for more people to be employed into that sector in order to keep the country clean and healthy. I would also ensure that such mandated bodies responsible for ensuring a clean society are put on their toes.

7.    I read recently in a newspaper that unemployment rate is on the ascendency. Should I be the president I would put a number of interventions in place to reduce it and also create avenues for vacation jobs to enable students earn some money before they return back to school. I would also put measures in place to make agriculture a lucrative business to attract the youth and investors.

By this crime rate might reduced.

8.    On safety on our roads,  I would make sure road safety measure s are adhered to by careless drivers on and the road networks expanded to an appreciable level.

9.    It has been said that a wealthy nation must have healthy people, for this reason, when I become the president of Ghana, with support from internally generated funds and donor partners, I will build more hospitals in the country.

10.     Last but not least, I will allow parliament to make policies that would help check politicians who disturb or have the tendency  of destroying the peace we are currently enjoying in the country. 

This will check radio stations and media houses who allow politicians who insult one another unto their platform.

Journalists should be research assistants for MPs'

Our political leaders and Ghanaians as a whole have not been fair to journalists in the country. Although they browse the newspapers and swap from one radio station or TV station every day for new information they have failed to acknowledge the work of the journalist since they get significant information on a silver platter.

The President of the Republic J.E.A Mills declared during the state of the nations address in parliament that he would see to it that graduates from the polytechnics and universities in the country would be recruited to serve as research assistants for the members of parliament even though they have no place they call their offices.


Well that is thoughtful of the president. Recently, an ultimatum was given to the members of parliament to choose their research assistants from the universities and the polytechnics by the end of August this year. This initiative taken by the government is acknowledged but it has sidelined the main people on which the improvement of the country depends. They are the only people who can bring what is inside out. They are the only ones who can expose the wrong things in the country to the people; the journalist.


The government has not been fair to journalist in the country, student journalist per se.


I am not taking this platform to undermine the prowess of our graduates but to say that journalists can do better!


Its time the government give the mandate to graduate journalist to also prove themselves wealthy of that position.


Journalism schools in the country take students through both theoretical and practical courses which equip them for the task ahead of them. Because the only means of getting information is basically through effective communication, the students are taken through such courses as communication research methods, mass communication, as well as news gathering and other useful causes which modes the student journalist adapt to any condition.


Student journalists because they are young and energetic can go to extreme extent to get any information for the betterment of the nation.


Various research groups that range from Journalist for Human Rights (JHR) Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) students branch all furnish the student journalist the necessary research oriented experience to expose wrongs in the country. No wonder journalists come out with invaluable project works for the progress of the nation.


These things stenciled above are not to blow the horns of journalist for them, in it obvious and I need not say much about it. Our works can talk for us.


If you doubt, you can check the archives of the journalism institutions, project works precisely.


We can risk our lives to different levels to get information since our duty is to inform, educate and entertain.


I want to take this platform to tell the President to consider recruiting journalists as research assistants for the Members of Parliament and by so be doing the National Service.


Graduate journalists are better option and journalists deserve better from Government and the dear people of Ghana.


Allotey Godwin Akweiteh

“KULUULU @ NIMA STATION”

Every day most of us board public transports to and from our workplaces as well as to the marker, stadium, places of interest, tour and the like.
Those who are fortunate to have their own cars are safe because they don’t experience what public transport passengers go through. The only thing they go through is traffic jam in which public transport passengers go through as well.
There is corruption everywhere and even at our lorry stations.
Every one is blaming the politician and the police of being crooks and corrupt. But little did they know that the corruption passion is engraved in every one but it takes those with strong hearts to resist it.
An experience I hard at the Nima lorry station really boasted my moral to stencil this feature article on paper.
I went to the Nima lorry station from a hard days work. I was really anxious to get home early since it has been rumored that Ghana would be playing an international friendly match with the Chipolopolo players of Zambia.
Since the game has already started, I listened to the commentary on my mobile radio whilst I hurried to get to the station in order to board the next available lorry to my house.
On reaching the market, I saw a lot of people at the station and some with huge sacks on their heads. I recalled asking a guy who was helping some of the market women upload their stuffs. I confronted this man and he showed me where my destinations queue was but promised to get me into the next available car if I am anxious to get home early. Well I taught he was just a joker so I left and joined the queue.
I realized that it was a market day.
The queue was not all that long and I countered those in front of me.
They were only 15. I said to myself that when 2 trotro appear, I will be in the latter.
I checked the time and it was half past 6.
I stood in the line as I watched 3 trotro harbored some of the people. I countered again and they were still 15.
All this while, these guys pretending to be helpers get people on board if they settle them with a note Ghana Cedi.
This ridiculous, mambo jumbo, indecent act must stop.
Why should some one join a queue for hours and the other by giving bribes and joins a lorry without joining the queue. It is not good and people must desist from that.
The giver and the receiver are all guilty of the same crime, this is punishable by law and people must desist from it.
Any one who commits this crime is also as guilty as any one who does “sakawa”
This is happening at our lorry stations and must be stopped at once. The MTTU should be up and doing and the so called “Bookmen” should also be up and doing and not only collecting petty monies from the drivers and their mates.
If this is not averted on time, there may be mayhem at our lorry stations and this will not be a good thing to write home even though this will be a good thing to write home about for Journalists.
I know about and I don’t even think this you would wish this to happen.

(depat4christ@yahoo.com)

STABILIZE OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

The educational system in Ghana has suffered extensively in the hands of our politicians for the past few decades since the country gained its independence in 1957. For some time now, the system has gone through thorough reforms.

Juxtaposing this with the clause from the Holy Bible,”since the days of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the educational system suffereth reforms and the reformers shall take it by force”. According to Eyiah, Joe Kingsley, (2004-03-27), though a new education committee under Professor Kwapong was appointed immediately after the overthrow of Dr. Nkrumah to fix the weakness in Ghana's education, at the close of the 1970s, Ghana’s education could only be described as decayed and needed organic rejuvenation. The decay was a result of political instability with its resulting poor management, corruption, and general macroeconomic turmoil. Following this to the time of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from 1979 – 2000, the then government led by Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, also set up a committee to review the system. He also succeeded in reducing pre -university years in the country and also, adding Technical and Vocational skills to the foundation his predecessors have laid before him (Jerry Rawlings), with the Senior Secondary School (SSS) and the Junior Secondary School (JSS) being three (3) years each.

This reform aimed at equipping the local people with skills to earn a livelyhood both in and out of school.

This yielded some marginal output but did not last long, since the weaknesses became visible. Who knows, it might be that the vision of the NDC were good but did not withstand the prowess of globalization.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) also tempered with the SSS and the JSS. The SSS was changed to SHS (Senior High School) whilst the JSS was also changed to JHS (Junior High School) with the duration being 4 years and still maintaining the 3 years for the JHS.

Well, they (NPP) did not last to see the success of that vision.

All these reforms of the reformers reforms are acknowledged but are not necessary.

Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah once said, “We shall measure our progress by the improvement . . . by the number of children in school, and by the quality of their education...”

This culture of gratuitous reforms must stop. Any party, who wins power, sets committee(s) to review what his predecessors had done and instead of continuing from there, suspends and reshuffles all over again without the necessary equipment.

Look at this scenario, a graduate from the SHS who reads geography, can not recognize what an optical square is when given one. The educational system is theoretical rather than pragmatic. The students are only prepared for examination purposes and fumbles impeccably when on the field.

Alfred Mercier descended that, “What we learn with pleasure we never forget”.

Juxtaposing this to our system, what we need is to provide schools with the needed facilities to be able to withstand the prowess of globalisation.

I think this would enhance and equip us in all aspect, be it practical or theoretical. When this is not done, they should stop deceiving us that were are the future leaders of this country. This gratuitous conception, wastes time and resources especially the hard earned monies extracted from our poor tax payers who struggle everyday to earn a living.

I want to take this opportunity to tell our politicians that, our educational system is in crisis and they are the only people who can rectify the problem; they should stop adding more salt to the injury.

My suggestion is that, the problem should be tackled from its grass root; rather than seeking to score political points and by setting committees to probe it with a devils eye.

If any one wants to temper with it, it is going to affect US (youth) since WE would be beneficiaries of the unscrupulous programmes.

Recently, on Friday, August 7, 2009, Daily Graphic covered a story with banner headline, "School records 0% BECE pass for eight years". Also a series of cases on examination mal practices have been recorded and an example is from myjoyonlice.com , "the Police arrested an examination supervisor and two teachers for allegedly leaking questions on the Mathematics Paper Two of this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE)."
If adequate structures had been put in place, how can such ridiculous things have happened.

What a shame, and you call us, future what?

Art 25 (e) of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana states, "the development of a system of schools with adequate facilities at all levels shall be actively pursued."

This clearly talks for it self and I don’t have to remind anybody of the gravity of the clause above. If there should be any reform at all, best brains both on the field and on retirement should be contacted. And also thorough research should be done bearing in mind the changing trends on the Continent as well as the new ways of learning and doing things in the 21st century. The constitution did not state that the educational system would be changed by any party in power.

Once more, I want to take this opportunity to draw the attention of the Minister of Education, Hon. Alexander Tetteh-Enyo to review his plans for the educational system because we don't want any more failures and to remind you of the quote by Peter Brougham, "Education make a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave".

fuel prices

DOES FUEL PRICES AFFECT GENERAL PRICES
For sometime now I've been monitoring changes in fuel prices in Ghana and how it has affected prices of goods and services in general under the NPP administration(before january 2009).
To my utter dismay, I found out that increase in fuel prices cause drastic changes in general prices but a decrease in it, cause little or no change at all.
This practice by the past Government did not do Ghana any good, those involved in changing regulating fuel prices focuses more on changes in fuel prices but those involve in seeing to it that it affects general prices don’t seem to realize it.
Since the increase in fuel prices in the early months of last year, which caused general prices to increase drastically, it has not decreased even after the second time fuel prices had decreased.
All other things being equal, changes in fuel prices should lead to changes in general prices of goods and services, this i learnt in Economics,which has help develop many countries but in Ghana, i think this is taught in the classrooms instead of applying it.
I say kudos to the National Petroleum Authority(NPA) but there is more to this than decreasing and increasing fuel prices and allowing us to do the rest.
I would like to take this opportunity to make a passionate appeal to the NDC administration not to do the same mistake by the NPP Government, even if they decrease it to the GHC 2.00 they promised, it should affect prices there by leading to a better living standards of the people.

ALLOTEY GODWIN AKWEITEH
GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM
BOX 667 ACCRA