Editorial

TEACHERS’ HONOUR; A WORTHY FEATHER IN THE CAP

It is worthy of recognition that many teachers in Ghanaian schools, although in the face of scarcity - want and need precipitating hardship and not-too-good condition of service, are still striving to give off the best in them.

The Republic newspaper would also add voice to those giving kudos to the nation’s crop of teachers who have, against all odds, distinguished themselves in the service of nation and humanity.

We should also help give three loud cheers to Mr. Simon Jude Yifaa, the 2012 overall Ghana’s best teacher and his two runners up, Mr. Tia Yahaya and Mrs. Mariama Antwi-Adjei for onerous deed in the teaching field.

This paper would, however, add up to calls on other teachers to emulated the patriotism of the three and many others winning various awards in this year’s annual event.

We are saying this because, in many schools today, teachers have become more business-minded than the core duty they are expected to deliver.

When some of the Ghanaian schoolteachers of today have turned their classrooms into the stalls of petty trading where they sell all sorts of goods, including chocolate, books and sometimes, funeral cloth and shoes, it is refreshing to note that others have chosen to bring to bear the best in them, winning them, not only the material honours, but the heart of the nation too.

Some of the teachers would even demand that the pupils and students, especially those approaching their final year classes or examinations, as a matter of necessity attend school on Saturdays and Sundays before they could be able to teach and learn what would sail them through in flying colours. This, the paper thinks is below the teaching belt.

The teacher exudes reverence, discipline and respect among the student and pupil population, but today some teachers stoop so low to even sharing cigarette and partake in more than one social vices with the pupils they are to ‘bring up’.

The Republic would also congratulate government for sustaining the Annual teachers’ awards and giving out what has been the 19^th edition of it this year.

The package going with the awards has also been transformed positively to the enticement of the teachers – for given out 3-bedroom house is not only commendable but it is also very inviting.

However, The Republic would see it as more satisfying if government considers as priority, teachers’ salary issue, which they always cry over, leading to unnecessary strikes that create interregnum in almost every year’s educational calendar, as we view the government/teacher/education-success as give and take affair.

Once again, we say three great cheers to the nation’s illustrious teachers who put nation first.

Editorial

RECENT TARIFFS INCREASE MISPLACED

The recently announced huge increase in public utility tariffs seem  to becoming everyday bother for majority of Ghanaians, except those in political offices – they always ‘believe’ Ghanaians need to pay what they call realistic price for these services in order to get the national economy moving. This assertion may be true at its face value and in the absence of fair-mindedness.

However, one may ask how satisfied the service being provided by providers of these services to the Ghanaian public is. But to be fair and objective, even the service providers themselves could attest that their efforts at providing the said services to the people often leave much to be desired.

But who speak for the Ghanaian consumer?

 The nation’s rulers often believe and stick religiously to the axiom that the shouts and wailing of the people, often at the advent of this kind of perpetration of social injustices are ‘9-day wonders’. And indeed, it is when the politician finds himself or herself out of government that their social IQ works properly toward the people.

The tragedy of Ghana’s democracy, however, has been ‘let God care for all, but each one for himself’. Ghanaian workers cry every other day for sufficient take-home salary and human-faced condition of services, but to the official deaf ear.

The grievous economic implications resulting from the recent 52% and 78% increase at a go in water and electricity user fee respectively; and at the heels of the increase in fuel and other commodities in Ghana, could turn out to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back: Especially so, as the increases also come at a time schools have re-opened with parents clutching crown of head at the excruciating economic  hardship being experienced in their country.

The tariffs increase, as misplaced as it may be, and of no socio-welfare benefit to the ordinary Ghanaian, just remind one of not only incompetence in the services workplaces and their echelons, but wanton measure of apathy to the people’s plight by the system.

The services providers could have harnessed all the large-scale illegal connections in people’s homes and factories, bribery, under-invoicing and over-invoicing for parochial gains and all official manipulations, to help cushion, out of passionate patriotism, the unfortunate countrymen and women who are being made unjustifiably to pay for professional incompetence and inefficiencies of services officials, most of whom were at the various posts through sheer political patronage and or nepotism, but lack the ability to deliver.

One would ask if workers’ salary status remains status quo at the face of the gargantuan increase in these essential commodities of a kind, how they are going to cope with the already precarious economic situation.

Ghana seems to be under certain kind of economic depression today, when day in and day out people of all age and status are committing suicide and others venting their economic anger on their spouses.

One wonders if those who have the god-giving privilege of trust to rule over the dying, are questioning well, their business of being power.

A country blessed with almost all the earthly wealth; how on earth the same can be held ransom by acute poverty that wouldn’t let the ‘ordinary’ sleep?

Indeed, the economic managers of the country seem not in their own sufficient best. Because, the recent increase in fuel, water and electricity, is not only uncalled for but also intimidating.

Editorial

SCHOOLS ARE RE-OPENED FOR PARENTS’ HEADACHE

Education, apart from being the bedrock of nations’ development also proved to be a high-rise of enlightenment for nations’ citizens.

Nations that observe and take keen interest on their human resource and near-future development and its sustainability too, dared, at all cost, and against all odds, to make education, at all level free. And it proved long-term beneficial in their future than the piece-meal nature of those stingingly and unrepentantly practising the cash-and-carry, as at huge cost.

There are always a lot of brilliant-but-poor children, in fact, forming the majority in the African society today. These number boasts of huge nation-building talents – academically and technically.

However, their crime for perpetual punishment and consignment to the literacy’s dustbin has been the disease of chronic poverty afflicting their parents.

For that the parents become helpless and their wards, worthless. But this arguably ends up robbing nations of the badly-needed human resource naturally imbibed in those have-not children, whose talents could have been harnessed to help move nations forward.

In Ghana, the schools have just reopened; and it is the time of the parents’ headache once again.

Some schools, particularly, garrison schools built under the security services’ watch and in fact, being supervised by the wide-eyed soldiers, often indulged themselves in over-charging of school fees more that 600% of officially approved.

There are also all sort of books, some of which are even not necessary for the use of the ward, but because, teachers’ and or headteachers’ commission lay in there, the burden of purchase of such books becomes the headache of parents who are also always in the same financial-difficult boat like the teachers and their heads, who would always want to take their pound of flesh, at the beginning of the new school seasons.

That is not all; children are asked to report at school before 6:00 a.m., no matter what distance they come from – failure to comply, indeed, has seen most of these schoolchildren, sometimes, beaten to pulps.

In some disturbing cases, a garrison school in Teshie, has been repeating the children for their inability to reach school before or by 6:00 a.m.

This has indeed, resulted in some children being repeatedly repeated more than necessary at the same class, a situation which ends up affecting their morale and psyche.

Their promotional places become a commodity for the higher-bidding parents – with just admission form going for GHc20.00

However, the Ministry of Education as well as the Ghana Education Service (GES) seems not care about all these breach of social values and travesty of justice on the part of these greedy beings calling themselves teachers; whose actions and inactions not only demoralizing the schoolchildren but intimidating their parents too.

It looks like schools are often reopen for parents’ chronic financial headache, a situation the Ghanaian authority must strive hard to arrest for the good of the nation’s education system and smooth and accelerated future development.

Editorial

A VIEW BACK INTO LITERATURE

The Republic desktop dictionary defines literature as: “Written works with artistic value”. Written works, it says include, fiction, poetry, drama and criticism that are recognized as having important or permanent artistic value.

Literature has been used since the beginning of global enlightenment and world civilization. Indeed, from archeology to zoology (A-Z), the literature pieces were used to engender the commonsense nature and its capability to create a world of peace, a world of bountiful and world of security for all God’s creation.

When in the ancient times, the literature were used to educate the living on natures dos and don’ts, the modern world is using the same literature today for self-destruction. The reason why one must pity the current generation is also that all the mentors are no longer around and none was able to inherit their natural legacies that had helped turn the then infant world around.

Sometime literature expedition with its attendant enlightening experience would remind us of the contemporaries of William Shakespeares; Geoffrey Chaucers; John Donne; John Dryden; Jonathan Swift, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others, who used the literature to persistently educate the emerging England society – in all the Great Britain’s facet of life – in their collective effort of creating just and peaceful world for themselves and posterity.

The Republic is saying all these because, it thinks adopting the right literature path today the current world could sigh at peace with itself.

But who are those to champion the holy crusade and how? The aforementioned literature greats had successfully straightened their society from it’s perishing path, through gatherings and cells where educative poetic dramas were staged; where live stage dramas were performed for the vivid understanding of the then not-so-much-educated society.

Today the well-advanced modern society couldn’t make any meaningful use for the vast opportunity and logistic endowment all around it.

To cut a long story short, this paper has realized recently with dismay that, even the local film and theater stakeholders find it very difficult to hire good editors and hot-on-the-job interpreters, which leaves many literature students and lay viewer and listener in the dark.

In most of the films we watch on the screens, the Africanism in particular has always almost been subjugated by the western cultures; thus making Africa, the first and foremost continent a chorus singer to the western vocalists.

Today by going western all African lifestyle have been westernized including its faith. The continent does nothing for itself, if not western approved: even how to ‘sleep with one’s spouse need to be copied from the west.

And the injurious part of it all was when the continent’s children start behaving the alien way with the wide mouth remaining dips on the continent for hope.

However; the Republic could only end this piece by asking, like an age-old Nigerian novelist, poet, lecturer and playwright thus: Has African A God?

Editorial

THE STREET-NAMING IS LONG OVERDUE
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development of Ghana has announced the president’s directives to all the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to, as a social necessity, start a street-naming project at long last. He gives the 18 months deadline period.

The Republic would wish to add its voice to those praising the mutters of the Street-naming project as directed around the country. It has been long overdue and couldn’t have come at a better time.

Ghana has become one murky slum with visitors always seem to be groping when locating an otherwise simple destination – they do not only waste man-hours locating, but they also stressfully waste money and energy, which in the end proves counterproductive.

The Republic believes that, owing to the stuffy vehicular traffic jam situation in the country’s big cities and areas, a situation proving so energy-supping, the citizenry could become better off knowing their destination beforehand.

Some public service sectors that would also benefit a lot from the Street-naming project would be the National Fire Service, as well as the Ambulance service, as well as the police.

This is important because, most of the nation’s recent deaths and destructions of property, through fire could also be traced to the lack of straight-to-the-point location of the distressed.

For these hitches it takes the fire engines and ambulance service personnel called to help in an emergency situation umpteen years to be meandering their way around call destinations which most of the time prove too late.

One aspect also the paper noted the Street-naming venture can help the nation and its citizens, is the boost of the postal system that until today has little good to write home about. Letters and parcels could then be easily and simply dropped in people’s homes and work places.

It is important also to note that as Ghana is increasingly rising to a global investment hub at the dawn of oil discovery and drilling in commercial quantity, the country should as well strive to put its house in other to be able to direct and accommodate informedly its business partners.

The street naming will also help reduce the country’s crime rate, departing from the situation where the police couldn’t easily locate a distressed call area for resolute action.

The Republic believes that the foregone stated among many other benefits that the country could achieve, was that the exercise when successful will also create more employment where more hands would be needed in the relevant sectors like the post, to deliver door-to-door letters and parcels into locations. It will also help in harnessing the country’s needed revenue mobilization.

Editorial

GHANA NEEDS ATTITUDINAL REFORM

Apathy, crime and official corruption are group of three evils that is breaking Ghana’s back today, with the officialdom becoming helpless, but in dilemma - whether to participate in finalizing the destruction of the spoilage or simply throwing its hands in the air.

It is all survival of the fittest, when the rulers mind their own business with scattered vituperations of doing their best; and the ruled struggles to survive; the pedestal of the two is in fact, poles apart that when the rulers rock each other’s shoulders and backs up there, the ruled also tagging one another down below; with the fittest surviving in foul or fair means no one cares to bother himself about.

But The Republic is taking keen interest in the seemingly crippling situation where we end up creating a class society with its resultant crass ramification that might prove devastating to handle in future.

When one becomes fancied or in fact, a system becomes fancied for creating the ‘baboon and monkey’ society, the person or that system must be equally prepared to ‘plant a lot of bananas – because people, a lot of them, would go bananas.

Indeed, we all wouldn’t forget so soon our recent past history when people felt rejected, dejected and suppressed revolt in what had become an Africa’s enviable revolutionary history, a difficult political path a lot of African countries, especially south of the Sahara happily and bravely followed.

We cried foul when seemingly stubborn sisters and, unfortunately, mothers playing economic mischief had been peppered in public, and in fact, brothers and fathers were stretched at marketplaces and given lashes.

But should we still invite upon ourselves ultra-ambitious uniformed small boys and girls to take us through involuntary military drills and punishment before we look sharp?

Now that the 2012 Presidential Election hearing has ended transparently, fairly, peacefully and acceptable to all – conquerors and vanquish – by the grace of almighty God, this paper would urge the nation to rather set up a mechanism that would emphasise on attitudinal change toward nationalism, so to get our nation up and strong.

Nationalism and patriotism that make a strong nation like Ghana’s forebears encouraged, had today been thrown down to the dogs; the nation’s cultural and traditional values have been desecrated in such a sacrilegious way that to quote from an English poet and playwright, George Chapman who once wrote: “Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools”, to suffice the nation’s current precarious human catastrophic situation.

The Republic may choose to mince words on the foregoing suggestions at the risk and detriment of the nation it loves so much, so would need forgiveness if the paper’s views on this subject are perceived unacceptable to those who matter most.

However, it is the case of The Republic that, when a stitch in time saves nine, it is better the country begins her thousand miles with the first step today and quickly, to be able to beat time and tide’s challenges in-built in every nation and person life.

If it is the type of formative school syllabi we accepted under pressing and imposing social duress to start the nation’s leaders-of-tomorrow with, couple of decades back, or the kind of one-sided, and in fact, socially-retrogressing face-serving laws that bleed and promote societal indiscipline that are destroying our human value through the neglect of culture and traditional values, why not? Are the laws not made for us? We can change them for the betterment of posterity and nation.

Editorial

PREEN POLICE FEATHERS

Two members of the Ghana police force were reportedly killed instantly, by what could be described as friendly-fire from their professional colleagues, allegedly on patrol expedition. This is unfortunate. The Republic mourns with families and state at this loss.

The paper would join Ghanaians to commend the Ghana Police Service for tremendous work it has been doing in recent times to ensure that peace and order reign in the country.

The Republic also recognizes and still cherishes success story of resolve by the Ghana police service to guard and guide Ghanaians’ peaceful coexistence before, during and after the December 2012 general election and its subsequent stout-sentry during the period of the 8-months that the election petition spent in court.

However, with the elections over and the Supreme Court case also over the government through the Ahmed Alhassan police administration needs be steadfast, so to purge the police service of certain dangerous element plaguing that noble institution.

The police service has so far been plagued with advanced cancer of indiscipline which needs to be checked.

There have been a lot of complaints against the police, coming from the policing public, which the police administration of the day often turned its deaf-ears to.

There have been and continue to be, apart from jittery at the guns’ trigger; marshalling the armed bandits and sometimes actively participating in unsocial acts, reckless driving of police vehicles by every Ghanaian police person – senior officer or the ranks even in their privately owned vehicles - endangering the safety of the members of the general public, has been in ascendancy.

Today, the public trust in the Ghana Police Service, The Republic can say without reservation, is at its lowest ebb. Very few police personnel are trusted by the Ghanaian public. This is not good enough; it does not give any good outlook at the police image from public view. But no police big-man seems to have cared a hoot about this, and the government of the day leaves police matters to police.

Many innocent Ghanaians may have died through reckless deed of members of the country’s police force – who have become larger than life in all facets and departments of that noble profession.

Many unfortunate families have argued over and over again that their kith and kin have been killed, knowingly or accidentally, who were not criminals, but who were in most of such gory incidents labelled armed robbers – exchanging gun-fires and bullets with the police. The police administration, sometimes sadly quickly swept these cases under the investigative carpets.

The victims and their families suffer the aftermath of these sad police staged events, while the personnel involved continue to enjoy the freedom in uniform without reform or remorse.

Few that were one time or another announced to have been interdicted or sacked from the service by the administration after clamorous public outcry were only again ‘necodemously’ re-uniformed through the backdoor and at the blindside of the fooled-public. Interestingly, most of them crept back into the service only to commit most dangerous acts than the first ones.

Sadly, today, it is about the police killing police with the ‘toys’ they loved using haphazardly and without an iota of scruple; and reading the police Public Relations office issued-statement over the sad homicide of the two budding young officers – Lance Corporals Emmanuel Tetteh and Francis Appiah, as an intelligence contractor – one and everyone of Ghanaians need to watch over his or her shoulders and pray not to fall on target range of barrel of any trigger-happy cop. The police headquarters didn’t call spade a spade.

However; The Republic would console the bereaved families of the two distressed cops. May the good Lord fortify their strength to be able to sustain the painful injury unnecessarily inflicted in their hearts.

The paper believes it couldn’t have been a right time to start effective preening of the coarse Ghana police feathers. 

Editorial

LET’S SHARE THREE CHEERS

It behooves upon the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government now to display with tact and dexterity to the satisfaction of the people – ordinary Ghanaian, the art of governance on which Ghanaians looked upon to entrust it with state powers.

In fact, Ghana was silent for the past 8 months not because it fears for the implementation of Nana Addo’s “all die be die” but because the country was hungry; wallowed in poverty and waded in overwhelming anger as every hungry person could proverbially be.

 Indeed, the nation’s hungry anger could have devoured a legion with even the latest powerful artillery had a political mischief-maker tried it.

The Republic has been saddened with the fact that, all efforts to hold Ghana’s new rulers, we mean the NDC, to manifesto-promises during the period the Landmark Presidential Petition was ongoing was met with excuses of “because of the court case we can’t do any meaningful governance”. Today; thank to Lord Atuguba and his 8 colleague sages the court case has ended successfully and status quo of government remains in place.

It is indeed, refreshing to hear the Vice President, Brother Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur express regret addressing the NDC faithful after the Thursday verdict, assuring that Ghanaians need not be poor; and to extent, stressing the subordinates’ assertion that the court case had, indeed, hindered the government resolve to enrich the impoverished.

The paper rejoices with the multitude of NDC supporters present at the party headquarters listening the former Ghana’s Central Bank governor: In fact, they better do and do it fast and quickly.

Ghanaians struggle to earn peanut in wages and salary, and struggle to put body and soul together – this will not auger well for ‘a social democratic party’ government to fail its electorate which supported it even at the peril of their lives.

The Republic, hereby pleads on behave of ordinary Ghanaian that government of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) known and loved for its populist appeal since the time of Jerry John Rawlings, through late Professor Atta-Mills, change the crippling way government is assuming after every election – court their support – but drive the gravy-train past them. That is not good enough.

Ghana may, indeed, need peace to develop, where peace does not only mean silence of the mortars; flashes of the sharpened machetes and or the terrifying chirping of Kalashnikovs being wielded by unemployed youth and hungry child-soldiers, but peace in the stomach surpasses all; and forestalls all.

In fact, the Republic believes, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has been vindicated like the Justice Atuguba 9-member panel also affirmed.

 Indeed, when you ask, they will truthfully tell one after another that they have fulfilled their part of national duty of lasting peace brokerage, at least for now. But it is government’s turn to consolidate that peace – by ensuring that the ordinary people drink and eat; clothe and shelter at a minimal cost.

But The Republic could not end this ‘meaningless’ editorial without saluting Ghana’s Supreme Court, for at least, this single case of all cases.

To Ghanaians, we urge to share among ourselves three cheers.