Hon. Mary Simon cont’d on

KEEPING YOU IN TOUCH WITH NEWS FROM HOME AND LOCAL COMMUNITY ISSUES

EDITORIAL

The Controversy over Government’s Procurement of Pasco for SHS final year students

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

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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.

Education reforms in Ghana over the years have been politicized by the two main political parties in the country- the 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 SHSGhanapolicy 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.

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

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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.”

Let’s Celebrate 21 Years Of Recognizing Our Community Achievers

Twenty one years ago, The Ghanaian News Canada launched a modest effort to recognize, showcase and celebrate the achievements of members in our communities across Canada who have and continue to excel in various discipline and fields of endeavor. This initiative was borne out of the conviction that many members of our community in Canada have been making strenuous efforts not only to achieve laurels for themselves and their community, but to the development and improvement of Canadian society as well. To a very large extent, this innovation has been a great and a splashing success. Over the past twenty one years we have unearthed and showcased an average of twenty-five high-flying achievers in various fields of endeavor from our community every year. That comes close to nearly three hundred and eighty persons to date. This year we will be showcasing close to thirty five more achievers. These Achievement Awards have proven a number of important points: First, there are great talents in our community. Secondly, our community members are not just sitting on these talents; they are utilizing them to achieve results. Thirdly they have proven that our community members are contributing significant efforts to the improvement of Canadian society. Against the background of all the misinformation, myths and stereotypes that are bandied around about immigrants and immigrant communities, we are delighted to note that this events have achieved the purpose for which they were instituted: showcasing the best and brightest from our community in the larger Canadian context. We wish to note the constant presence of a large number of mainstream Canadians: from politicians, public servants to Police Officers at these events. If these high-profile people from mainstream Canadian society recognize the importance of this event and regularly show up to support us, then it is incumbent on us as the community organizing this event to embrace it and turn out in our numbers to support it. We also depend on community members to nominate the known achievers in our community who are deserving of these awards. We therefore entreat community members to constantly be on the lookout for those that are achieving laurels in various aspects in our community and nominate them for the awards when the time comes.

We call on community members to turn up to support and applaud our achievers for this year on

Sunday November 21, 2021. At TORONTO GRAND, BANQUET & CONVENTIO CENTRE.

30 BAYWOOD ROAD. ETOBICOKE. ON. CANADA M9V 3Y8

Time: RED CARPET 5:00pm, AWARDS 5:30pm TICKET: $60 per person, Table of 10 $600. Call: 416-844-9161 or 416-916-3700

Email: awards@ghanaiannews.ca

They deserve our recognition, our praises and our support. Finally we extend our heartfelt and warm congratulations to all our award recipients for this year. Do not rest on your oars. Keep pushing to make yourself, your community and our nation proud. We are proud of you!

James Quayson Jr. Assin North MP now eligible to contest by-election

James Quayson Jr. is a Ghanaian political aspirant and a member of the Ghana National Democratic Congress Party representing the Assin North Constituency in the Central Region of Ghana

Education: BSW Social Services, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada BA General Arts with Majors in Political Science and Sociology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

He is a Social Services and Community Development Administrator and Manager as well as a framer.

Member of the NDC’s legal team, Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe has said that the decision by the Cape Coast High Court to nullify the election of James Gyakye Quayson and also his eligibility as the lawmaker for the Assin North constituency in the Central region does not bar him from contesting the fresh election as ordered by the court.

According to Lawyer Tamaklo, “The High Court held that at the time the EC issued the notice of polls and the Hon Quayson filed his nominations, he didn’t have the certificate of renunciation issued by Canada.

The certificate of renunciation was issued in November 2020 before the election; however, the notice of polls came in October 2020.

Hon Quayson applied for the renunciation much earlier but the Canadian Authorities only issued the certificate of renunciation on the 26th November 2020,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

He added that by this decision of the court, Hon Quayson is now qualified to contest the bye-election because he now has the certificate of renunciation.

Once the EC issued the notice of polls for the by-election, Hon Quayson will be qualified to contest.” James Quayson Jr.

The Cape Coast High Court on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, annulled the 2020 parliamentary results of the Assin North constituency.

The court has therefore directed for a fresh election to be held in the constituency to choose a new MP for the area. Justice Kwasi Boakye read his ruling in court on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

The petitioner, Michael Ankomah Nimfah, contended that Quayson held dual citizenship as a Ghanaian and a Canadian at the time of his election, and therefore must be restrained from performing the duties of a Member of Parliament.

Ahead of the ruling, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress Sammy Gyamfi accused the registrar at the Cape Coast High Court of colluding with the governing NPP to manipulate court processes against the Assin North MP James Gyakye Quayson.

According to him, the registrar Ustaz Hamza had refused to show up or open the registry of the court to enable lawyers of the embattled MP to file the motion for the trial judge to refer the case to the Supreme Court.

https://www.etvghana.com/

Fight for control threatens to destabilize and fragment the internet

You try to use your credit card, but it doesn’t work. In fact, no one’s credit card works. You try to go to some news sites to find out why, but you can’t access any of those, either. Neither can anyone else. Panic-buying ensues. People empty ATMs of cash. This kind of catastrophic pan-internet meltdown is more likely than most people realize.

I direct the Internet Atlas Project at the University of California, Berkeley. Our goal is to shine a light on long-term risks to the internet. We produce indicators of weak points and bottlenecks that threaten the internet’s stability.

For example, where are points of fragility in the global connectivity of cables? Physical cables under the sea deliver 95% of the internet’s voice and data traffic. But some countries, like Tonga, connect to only one other country, making them vulnerable to cable-clipping attacks. networks, which websites use to make their content readily available to large numbers of internet users. An outage at the content delivery network Fastly on June 8, 2021, briefly severed access to the websites of Amazon, CNN, PayPal, Reddit, Spotify, The New York Times and the U.K. government.

The biggest risks to the global internet

We take measurements at various layers of the internet’s technological stack, from cables to content delivery networks. With those measurements, we identify weak points in the global internet. And from those weak points, we build theories that help us understand what parts of the internet are at risk of disruption, whom those disruptions will affect and how severely, and predict what would make the internet more resilient. internet has been increasingly concentrated primarily in the hands of a few, U.S.-based organizations. On the other side, there’s fragmentation. Attempts to challenge the status quo, particularly by Russia and China, threaten to destabilize the internet globally.

While there’s no single best path for the internet, our indicators can help policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, activists and others understand if their interventions are having their intended effect. For whom is the internet becoming more reliable, and for whom is is it becoming more unstable? These are the critical questions. About 3.4 billion people are just now getting online in countries including Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu. What kind of internet will they inherit?

A US-controlled internet

corporations, nonprofits and government agencies could block a cumulative 96% of content on the global internet in some capacity.

The U.S. Department of Justice has long used court orders aimed at tech providers to block global access to content that’s illegal in the U.S., such as copyright infringements. But lately, the U.S. federal government has been leveraging its jurisdiction more aggressively. In June, the DOJ used a court order to briefly seize an Iranian news site because the department said it was spreading disinformation.

Due to interlocking dependencies on the web, such as content delivery networks, one misstep in applying this technique could take down a key piece of internet infrastructure, making a widespread outage more likely.