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The Ghanaian News July 2021
EDITORIAL KEEPING YOU IN TOUCH WITH NEWS FROM HOME AND LOCAL COMMUNITY ISSUES
EDITORIAL Publisher / Editor Emmanuel Ayiku Contributing Editor Joe Kingsley Eyiah Director of Operations Comfort Ayiku Community Reporter Jonathan Annobil
The Ghanaian News Publishes news and comments from the Community, serves Ghanaians across Canada with good source of information is committed to give good community Journalism The Ghanaian News is published in Canada by The Ghanaian News Corporation
Editorial Office 1111 Albion Road, Suite 103 Etobicoke, Ont. M9V 1A9 Tel:(416) 916-3700 Advertising Fax (416) 916-6701 Website: www.ghanaiannews.ca E-mail: cayiku@gmail.com info@ghanaiannews.ca $1:00 per copy Subscription costs $66.00 for one year. including postage U.S. and foreign subscriptions costs US$120 per year. Letters to the Editor We encourage your feedback and value your comments. Please feel free to write to us. keep letters to a maximum of 200 words, include your full name, Telephone # and mailing address with all correspondence. Address your letters to the Editor The Ghanaian News 1111Albion Rd., Suite 103 Etobicoke, Ont., M9V 1A9 Tel: 416-916-3700 or Fax: 416-916-6701 or e-mail us at info@ghanaiannews.ca Articles appearing in various columns of the Ghanaian News are intended to generate civil and informed public discussions. You do not have to agree with opinions expressed by the writers. That should encourage you to write to express your own views. This is the way we generate lively and civil discussions in the community. Rejoinders are not forums for personal insults and we want readers to adhere to these principles.
The Controversy over Government’s Procurement of Pasco for SHS final year students Education reforms in Ghana over the years have been politicized by the two main political parties in the countrythe National Democratic Party (NDC) and the National Patriotic Party (NPP), unfortunately, to the detriment of students in the country. The level of the education ladder that has seen greater portion of this ‘tussle’ between the two political parties is the Senior High School (SHS) once upon a time known as Senior Secondary School (SSS). For example, the duration for SHS has been moved from 3 years to 4 years and back to 3 years between the two main political parties using the students as ‘guinea pigs’. One of the strong promises to Ghanaians that brought the NPP back to power in 2017 was the policy of free SHS for all Ghanaians. The Free SHS is a policy of the government of Ghana, that started in September 2017. The Free SHS Ghana policy states that every child in Ghana who qualifies for, and is placed in a public Senior High Schoo for secondary education will have his/her fees absorbed by the government. Article 25 of Ghana’s 1992 constitution provides for equal rights to educational opportunities. The article also introduces progressively free education at the secondary level. Since 1951, Ghana has tried different policies and approaches to ensure free, compulsory, universal basic education, with varying degrees of success. Though there have been some toothing problems with the Free SHS policy in the country final year students of the Free SHS have passed out under Akufo-Addo’s NPP government. Great achievement for the government! The government of Ghana has purchased past questions (Pasco) for SHS final year students. The National Women’s Organizer of the opposition NDC, Dr. Hanna Bisiw has come out publicly to question the motive of such action by the government. The Ghanaian News has followed this feud with national interest. While we agree with the NDC Women’s organizer in her chastisement of the Akufo-Addo government for refusing to provide adequate textbooks for students in basic schools yet procuring past questions at a higher price for the students that lack basic infrastructure, we disagree with her in her assertion that, “the education sector the erstwhile Mahama administration left behind has been virtually destroyed by the policies of the NPP government.” The NPP government needs to do more with education infrastructure such as furniture and textbooks instead of mobilizing resources (private and public) to build a National Cathedral in Accra. Teachers in the country must be well equipped with resources and frequent in-service training (Professional Development) to improve learning by students at all levels of the education ladder in the country. Teachers rather need the Pasco as part of the resources to equip them teach SHS students to be able to pass their final exams. We employ both NPP and NDC to come together to develop policies that will improve education in Ghana and not to use students as ‘guinea pigs’ to test their partisan policies whenever they are in power.
Letter to the Editor By: Bestway zotto, Toronto. ON I congratulate Mr. Ayiku and the Ghanaian News Team for sustaining this paper over the years, from your initial volume some two decades back. You have grown to maintain a good balance of coverage and more grease to your elbows. The May and June issues covered the re-emergence of the Ghana Union of Canada (GUC) and issues with the Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario(GCAO). You did very well to bring the issues out through the interviews with Mr. Duodu, President of the GCAO, and Mrs. Sarah Awuah, Co-founder of GUC. It’s rather unfortunate, judging by Mrs. Sarah Awuah’s account that her efforts to re-establish the defunct GUC from the bottom-up through the various local associations was not fully reciprocated. I was part of the birth of the defunct one in the 80s, as a member of the Ghana Association of Ottawa then. If her account is true, and she claimed she has documentary evidence to back it, then it is very unfortunate. Much worse efforts were made to boycott GUC as though it was an illegal endeavor or a one-person show. But of course GUC, registered as a nonprofit organization with board of directors, will not last long if it is run as a one-man business. And this shows that the perennial disease of pull him/her down is still alive and well, and it’s an unfortunate baggage most of us Africans have been unable to shed off. We are unwilling to lend a hand to others because we didn’t start it. The credit will not come to me so why bother? We allow ourselves to fall into the divide-and-rule trap set by those who would want to see us second or third class citizens. We are quick to say “united we stand and divided we fall”, but lack the will power to put it into practice due to outright selfishness, while our fellow nationals from Africa and our suffer. We see the power in unity from some other Canadian ethnic organizations and wonder why we could not replicate same. Much of this in my view, stems from the effects of low self-esteem, and immaturity in our attitudes. Attitude is a big hindrance to personal and professional progress. But change is inevitable if we want to see our African Canadian communities blossom. If for no other reason but for the sake of our children, our future generations in Canada. For since our generations are here to stay, we the parents must sacrifice to lay the strong foundation necessary for the successful integration and tapping into the Canadian mainstream opportunities. Nobody will do it for us. While I cherish the efforts of the various Ghanaian-Canadian local associations, an umbrella one such as the GUC is critical. I therefore appeal to all key stakeholders to burry their differences and try to meet with the current GUC executives to chart the way forward, knowing that they will be doing so in the interest of posterity, not their own. It may cost you your time and resources, but as the saying goes, NO PAIN NO GAIN. Bestway Zottor Former member of Ghana Association of Ottawa.
Mary Simon becomes Canada’s first indigenous Governor General
cont’d from pg. 1 damage and pushing for responsible economic development on their traditional territory. In 1994, former prime minister Jean Chrétien appointed Simon as Canada’s first ambassador for circumpolar affairs. She was later appointed as Canada’s ambassador to Denmark. While she is fully fluent in English and Inuktitut, Simon is not fluent in French. Traditionally, the governor general is expected to have a complete command of both official languages. Hundreds of French-speaking Canadians have written complaints to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages. In her address, Simon reiterated her commitment to learning the French language. On Thursday, Simon spoke with the Queen. In a short clip of the conversation posted on The Royal Family’s Instagram account, the Queen said it was good to speak with Simon. “You’re taking over a very important job.” Source: James Rose, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Columbia Valley Pioneer
