As Editor of the Daily Graphic, I relentlessly pursued the cause of Basic Education pupils by urging the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to promote a policy that would enable candidates at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to sit as many times as possible since it was a terminal examination.
I felt the students were too young to be denied another opportunity to participate in the examination to terminate their education in their teens since even university students had at least four years or more to take part in the final examinations before they could be barred from further participation.
Although my entreaties did not seem to yield functional response for many years, eventually government policy shifted and today, BECE candidates are allowed to resit the examination.
Even as I pursued the objective from a personal conviction using national resources, the Editorial Column of the Daily Graphic, some distinguished group was monitoring and watching from afar culminating in a national recognition by the reputable Salt and Light Ministries, led by the veritable Dr Joyce R Aryee, in what was termed "Motivational Letter" dated September 17, 2013, for my unyielding effort in championing the cause of BECE resit examination.
The letter, signed by Dr Aryee, Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministries, proceeded thus; "Dear Yaw, you are unique, grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As you may know, Salt and Light Ministries is a ministry of encouragement to the body of Christ, to be everything that God in Christ, has raised us to be (Matt 5:16) As part of the mission of motivating and encouraging people to be the best God wants them to be, we take this opportunity to write to let you know you are unique for your courageous and enduring attempts of championing the cause of the BECE resit examination.
"God has carefully, intentionally and individually crafted you and vested in you various skills, talents and tasks and has called you by name to accomplish certain things for Him.
This thought should bring you great comfort as you seek to do your part in the larger scheme of the affairs of this nation.
God is the Author and Enabler of every human ability, and as you go about your duties, please remember that your personal abilities, skills and work habits are specific gifts from God, which you are to use for His glory."
The motivational letter concluded on a note of goodwill and prayerfully thus "May the Lord garrison you with His love and endue you with all the wisdom and discernment so that you can use all your gifts, talents and skills to His glory and for the wellbeing, advancement and prosperity of our dear nation.
He who has called you is faithful.
He will do it. Once again congratulations."
Inspiration
Based on this inspiration and guided by provisions under Article 162 (5) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992 that "All agencies of the mass media shall, at all times, be free to uphold the principles, provisions and objectives of this Constitution and shall uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people of Ghana", I have continually spoken against certain practices of governments, especially the dismissal of government appointees in district assemblies where they exercise their inalienable rights to reject Presidential nominees for district chief executives.
I have equally opposed the tendency to reappoint the same persons for more than once when they fail to secure at least more than 50 per cent of the votes of the assembly members present and voting, as prescribed by law.
Under the present administration, I have countlessly written and spoken against the tendency where chief executives of public entities, the concomitant reservation of certain number of party delegates to a so-called (National Democratic Congress) Chief Executives Forum or association and public relations officers of public institutions, vigorously and consistently appear on radio and television panels, as spokespersons of the party to defend not government policies and programmes but party manifesto and promises.
Such discourse have nothing to do with their public roles nor related to their expertise, except to defend the position of the NDC as a party.
There are even directors in the Civil Service who go beyond government policy to defend the party interest, whether tenable or otherwise, although they are paid from public funds.
One can readily cite Alhaji Tanko Computer and the Deputy Chief Executive of the Environmental Protection Authority, an academic of the status of a Professor, who goes on radio and television, not to discuss what the environmental agency is doing to protect our people from environmental catastrophe, but to compare the galamsey records of the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, when she has been appointed to deal with the matter to save our people from doom.
Victory
That is why I take glory in the recent judicial victory of the NDC, when some individuals within the party who felt aggrieved by the decision of the national executive of the party to bar party members serving in government or public and civil services from contesting party positions, with the court upholding the position of the party.
But that is where our hypocrisy as a people comes up.
Our elders say that if you are banned from eating lillies, you must not patronise their shoots to wit, "se wokyiri kooko a wonni ne mma".
Once the NDC as a party has chosen to separate party activities from government and public services, it must not encourage party members in key public institutions to serve as spokespersons for the party, to be consistent with the belief that one cannot hold public and party offices at the same time.
However, on a daily basis I come across a roster assigning public and civil servants to represent the party on radio and television programmes, necessitating the former Minister of Information, and Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, taking legal action against a Chief Executive of a public organisation for defamation.
The overzealous comments were motivated more by partisan considerations and emotions rather than objective national interest considerations, otherwise it would not have resulted in the concomitant of shameless retraction and apology.
The time has come for all of us as a country to separate partisan interests from the national cause so that we can develop meaningfully and functionally, not minding who started or completed which project or pursued which policies and programmes.
Otherwise, if we want to go the American way, then all those who come with government must never attempt to legitimise their positions, but must resign before a new government is installed, to avoid the situation where the new government, without proper legal authority, dissolves boards, which are mandated to recommend individuals for appointment to certain executive positions in public service, before such appointments are made and disingenuously labelled as acting positions. In the US, certain public positions are taken up by partisan appointees who exit with the President.
With the motivation from Salt and Light Ministries and portions of Article 41, that there can be no right without a corresponding duty or obligation, I will continue to speak against public servants serving as party spokespersons and the illegality of Presidents dismissing government appointees from district assemblies when they reject nominees for DCEs or the flagrant disregard for the law in reappointing the same individuals as many times as they are rejected to be voted upon when the law says that any candidate who fails to secure at least 50 per cent or those who get 50 per cent but fail to get at least two thirds, of the votes of members present and voting, must be replaced as against that of the Presiding Member who is required to secure at least two-thirds majority of all the members of the assembly.
