No mercy for the poor too… oh Ghana!

TIME WITH THE GOVERNOR

The revelations by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) about the Capitation Grant which was launched in 2004 as part of efforts to promote education in the country call for a careful consideration of the whole issue of education.
It is very shameful and lamentable that people tasked to protect national interest are disappointing Ghanaians who made them custodians of their inheritance as no mercy seemed to be shown even to the poor.
These greedy custodians are feasting hungrily with their two hands from the coffers of educational funds in the country leading to a continuous decline in educational standards in the country.
Throughout history, education has been regarded in all societies globally as an end in itself and also as a means for the individual and society to grow. It is for this reason that ancient civilizations placed much premium on education as a means of attaining growth.
In modern times, education has been pampered globally because of its potential of promoting sustainable development. The United Nations has been in the lead in the fight to help education become the number one means to sustainable development.
The organisation through its Universal Declaration on Human Rights has made education a right of every child. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which Ghana is a signatory to also seek to promote education as a means of combating poverty which has bedeviled the international community.
Despite the international recognition of education, governments in Africa and Ghana for that do not seem to see the importance of it, hence are playing politics with such serious issue. The duration of secondary school is even used as a political test case by politicians.
Though the country signed the MDG in 2000, much was not done to improve education in the country until 2004 when the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Program were introduced as part of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) which was re-launched in 1995.
These initiatives were hailed upon their introduction because many saw them as saviours of the sinking educational standards in the country; whilst the School Feeding Program sought to provide free food for school pupils in selected schools, the Capitation Grant was meant to abolish school fees, especially at the basic education level.
However, few years after their introduction, they have been enveloped by the usual Ghanaian corruption in the public sector.
The first of the twin programs to be enveloped was the school feeding program which was hijacked by Dr. Amoako Tuffour and his accountant employee who had been fired by his employers for non-performance.
The exit of the duo from the offices of the program was thought of to be the end of tragedy that will befall such laudable ideas. However, the change in regime brought in the calamity that had befallen it when many cooks sought to work at the same time in the kitchens of the project.
Its twin project, the Capitation Grant, is now in the news and like many other news that hit and run the scenes of the Ghanaian society, the revelations that emerged from the findings of the CDD is slowly fading out of Ghana’s political scenes.
If the ordinary citizen and the central government that is responsible for protecting the scheme has forgotten of the discoveries and recommendations made by the centre, then The Governor wants to seize the opportunity to remind them to go back to it.
The Centre found out that there were leakages in the operation of the scheme which has resulted in the country losing an average of GH¢600.00. Also, the hierarchical nature of its operation has resulted in the delay in the arrival of the grant at the schools hence some headmasters have either refused to go for it at all or finance the school from their pockets.
The Governor is entreating policy makers to go back to the report and find appropriate solutions to the predicaments of the scheme because Ghanaians are still watching and no one will allow this laudable project to die a ‘natural death.’
It is very sad that after a sampling of thirty randomly selected schools, Ghana had lost an average of GH¢600.00 to negligence which was on the part of well paid public servants who have shirked their responsibilities.
This is very serious because the amount can be more if certain districts were included in the survey. If Ghana is losing an average of this amount in only 30 districts, that means Ghana as a country will lose an average of GH¢102,000 if the research was conducted in all the 170 districts in the country.
This means that the possibility of the country seeing development in its educational sector will be very low because the amount that would have been invested in the development of education is going waste.
The said amount was lost to ghost names which were available at the Ghana Education Service (GES) but absent in the classrooms. This means that the figures at GES do not tally with the ones at the districts.
The hierarchical nature of the transfer of funds from the Ministry of Finance and GES to the districts has also resulted in the leakages of the finances meant for the poor teachers and parents who find it really difficult to pay their ward’s fees.
These parents are seriously suffering so if someone at the Ministry or Education office will not see the importance of shortening his long hands for the poor’s money to pass by freely, then that fellow must leave for the money to be free.
The Governor believes the time has now come for heads to roll at the ministry and all other bodies who presided over the loss, for Ghana cannot continue to lose such valuable amount to greedy public servants who are there to have mercy for no one. They must vacate their posts immediately to ensure fairness in the program.
There is also the need to break the long chain of transfer in the grant because that is what is contributing to the loss. GES must inform the schools involved of the amounts they are to receive to prevent any official from diverting or inflating the figures.
The Governor is calling on the government to religiously consider the recommendations made by the CDD and ensure that the leakages are dealt with before the program goes into extinction because nobody will take kindly to the collapse of the program.