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For a Head of State to leave his/her numerous assignments at home, and travel abroad, he or she must have some very good reasons for making the trip. And while on the international outing, one expects that the news that flows from his/her activities would be very important, even if the journey was for recreation. This is why I find it quite worrying that on many occasions when President John Mahama travels abroad, some very unimportant issues crop up and literally make headlines, thus pushing down what, in my candid view, should be the front page �1A� stories. The last time the President travelled to the United States of America (USA), the top news was that he had gone to pose by a Cable News Network (CNN) billboard for a photograph and the propriety or impropriety of that singular act seemed to have dominated discussions on his visit. The government�s communication team had a hectic time trying to push up the �real news� about the President�s duty call in the US. The President, this week, visited Germany where he appealed to the Germans to help Ghana to strengthen its technical and vocational education system so as to produce more middle-level skilled manpower. �One of the areas we want to see increased assistance from is Germany�s experience in technical and vocational education,� Mr Mahama reportedly told Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint press conference in Berlin last Monday. �Ghana is a lower-middle income country progressing into middle-income and we are seeing a strong demand for skilled professionals in terms of technical experience, and so we want to see how vocational and technical training can be strengthened in order that we are able to produce more middle-level manpower,� President Mahama said. Thank you, Mr President! We need skilled professionals in terms of technical experience indeed! For me that was the news, because in Ghana presently, it appears that technical jobs like masonry, carpentry, plumbing, electrical installation, automobile repairs, hairdressing, tailoring (dressmaking) etc. are left for people who seem to not see their academic way clearly. For instance, if one begins to climb the academic ladder and falls along the way, one is literally dumped into some technical/vocational training institution and the materials that are ultimately produced are largely unable to provide solid services. That may explain why we have shoddy jobs all over the place. Many Ghanaian workmen are able to produce very beautiful works but because they lack the technical skills, the finishing of their products and services is almost always poor. When you employ an ordinary Ghanaian mason or carpenter to work for you, you may end up doing the foreman�s job by giving directions �here and there� just to be sure that he does not mess up the job. Almost on a daily basis, tailors and seamstresses are �spoiling� clients� cloths and other materials because they just lack the technical eye to get things right in terms of expertly cutting and stitching to produce clothes with fine finishing. This is not to suggest that all people working in these fields are poorly trained and, therefore, do sloppy jobs, but the fact remains that Ghana lacks skilled manpower in terms of technical skills, and the President�s appeal to the Germans could not have come at a better time. Among the President�s delegation to Germany was the General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia a.k.a General Mosquito, who seemed to have made all the big news, especially on social media platforms, thus taking the spotlight off the important things that the President discussed with the German authorities. There have been questions as to whether or not a winter jacket he wore in a picture circulating on social media was for men or women. The jacket seemed to have done to the President, what the CNN billboard did to him when he visited the US recently. All the news is about General Mosquito�s alleged man-woman jacket. The jacket issue has become so topical that the President and Founder of policy think-tank, IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, is reported to have taken to Facebook to express worry over the incident. Please, we should not allow discussions on General Mosquito�s man-woman snow jacket, winter coat or cold beater overshadow President Mahama�s call for assistance from the Germans to move the technical training of the youth forward. That is what is important, and not General Mosquito�s decision to wear a �UNISEX� winter coat in cold Berlin.