Last week was eventful not only at home, but also outside Ghana!
Owerri. In a jailbreak in Owerri, Nigeria, 1800 prisoners escaped. The IGP was fired the next day while in Owerri to see the crime site.
Taiwan. In Taiwan, a high-speed train crashed killing over fifty people after a construction-vehicle slid onto the track just when the train got to a tunnel. The Minister of Transport resigned immediately after expressing remorse very emotionally. He was not the train-driver.
London. In January 2018, a British MP Lord Michael Bates, offered his resignation for the “discourtesy” of being late by one minute to Parliament and missing a question addressed him. He said he was “thoroughly ashamed of not being in his place!”
In Ghana, a day after Easter Monday on Tuesday 6 Apr 2021, Form 3 students in SHS arrived at school only to be told to go back home and return on 5 May 2021.
This reminded me of Mr Thomas!
Mr Thomas
Our Bookshop manager in school in the mid-1960s Mr Thomas was notorious for asking us students when we went for books/stationery to “go kom (come) back tomorrow!”
After driving thirteen-hours from Enchi to Accra with their son to Labone SHS, like Mr Thomas, the parents were told to “go kom (come) back tomorrow,” tomorrow in this case being a month away, 5 May 2021. There were similar tales of woe all over the country.
GES Apology
That night, as I watched TV3’s anchor interview the PRO of GES on why parents were not made aware of the change in date early enough, she could only apologise.
The following morning as Peace FM’s Kokrooko host subjected the DG GES to hard questioning about developments, the DG like his PRO the previous night, could only offer copious apologies. Strongly expressing his unhappiness, the host told the DG his apology was not a satisfactory answer to Ghanaians’ anger.
Was that all parents and Ghanaians deserved? Apology, after which business goes on as usual like nothing has happened? No wonder Dr Angela Dwamena-Aboagye of the Ark Foundation said on Joy FM on Thursday 8 Apr 2021 that, it looks like in Ghana, “anything/everything goes!”
Morality which Law should reinforce has been thrown overboard. Where law is not applied, impunity takes over!
Sense of Responsibility?
Does high public office mean only perks and no responsibility? Where is the Minister of Education in all this?
At a time when national discourse is on the horrendous murder for ritual money-making purposes, of a ten-year-old boy by his 16- and 17/18?-year-old friends at Kasoa, events at the GES/Ministry of Education are also disturbing considering the effect on all Ghanaians, students, parents, teachers etc.
Parents and Ghanaians deserve more than an apology!
For politicians, remember President JF Kennedy’s words to his countrymen/women in “my dear American, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!” Think of Ghana first!
Conclusion
The Taiwanese Minister of Transport resigned on moral grounds even though he was not the train-driver. Over the Easter weekend, twenty-eight Ghanaians died in Road-Traffic-Accidents (RTAs.) January-March 2021 recorded over five-hundred deaths.
In my article “Motorway Kamikaze Driving?” of 14 Mar 2017 on RTAs in Ghana, I stated that
“Ghana’s death toll of over 1,700 casualties in the first nine months of 2016 was adjudged one of the highest in the world.”
In recent times, Ghana has been averaging over two thousand deaths annually. How come no Minister has resigned on moral grounds? Has society become so heartless elected officials think the carnage is acceptable?
A British MP offered to resign for being one minute late to Parliament. In Ghana we joke of our own GMT, “Ghana-Man-Time,” and not Greenwich Mean Time.
Time-consciousness means nothing to the average Ghanaian. Indeed, official functions seldom start on time! Why can’t Ghanaian MPs be as “thoroughly ashamed” as Lord Bates was for being one minute late?
When it is obvious that one has failed with over 2000 deaths/year in RTAs, resign with dignity as others do in other countries.
Where individual appointees fail to resign, the appointing authority must fire them like the Nigerian IGP was fired.
Finally, some respect must be shown us the citizenry in cases like not making parents aware of changes in reopening dates early, and the attendant inconvenience.
Apologies are not enough after parents travel thirteen hours from Enchi to Accra only to be told, like Mr Thomas told us, “go kom (come) back tomorrow,” one month away.
In all this, where is Leadership? (Integrity/Discipline/Patriotism?)
Fellow Ghanaians, WAKE UP!
Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd)
Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
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