Feature Article of Monday, 20 July 2015
Columnist: Sarpong, Justice
“The Head teacher has shocked me…she said, you lack chalk and log
books… I am very shocked that you are today asking me about chalk… how much is a box of chalk… I won’t give you chalk today, I won’t give you chalk tomorrow…,” … Design a database of old students of the school and together
with the PTA and teachers, provide your own chalk…,” she said.
“Secondly, you talk about log books and school uniforms, I think we have SPOILT you so parents don’t want to even buy school uniforms… head teacher eii, find another means of helping yourself….
“I will even FEEL SHY to go to Accra and call on the government to come
and provide chalk…it would be VERY DIFFICULT for me to do so…,” she said.
These are the words that came out of the mouth of the second Lady of the land. Mrs Matilda Amissah Arthur and if you think this is appalling, reading it here even makes it sound better. You should listen to the audio if you have not heard it, it was venomous, uncouth, unladylike and plainly primitive.
I don’t know what this Matilda was doing when the Headmistress of the Kukurantumi Presbyterian Primary school was giving her speech or she would not have responded as she did.
First, the Headmistress did not ask Mrs. Matilda “Mema mo chalk ne, mema mo chalk ekyena” to give them a chalk, she was merely asking her as the messenger of the government who brought the computers to convey to the government that, they appreciate the computers but they lack the basic teaching tools like chalk, log books, etc which without they cannot do their job. Mrs ‘MEMA MO CHALK NE MEMA CHALK EKYENA,’ Ms. Oppong the Headmistress did not ask you to buy them a chalk for you to spastically rant like a lunatic foaming on the mouth with hatred and being disrespectful toward the people who were at this function. You were asked merely to take a message back to your husband and his clueless government and that is not the response you should have given. Let’s even assume the Headmistress made a mistake in asking you to help them get a chalk, your response was reprehensible and disgusting. As a wife to the Vice President, you could have diplomatically responded by saying you will let the government know about the plight of this school and continue with your speech.
Now talking of speech, what did this woman say after going bonkers and throwing the Headmistress under the bus? Nobody seems to care whatever you said because of the insulting language you used on another woman like yourself doing her job. The fact that you won the Vice Presidency wife lottery does not make you better than this Headmistress for you to talk down to her like you were talking to a dog.
Secondly, government has not ‘SPOILT’ anybody with free things. Whatever the government provides to the citizens did not come from President Mahama or your husband’s pocket but through the same taxpayers who have been taxed out of their wits.
I have a hard time understanding this clueless and useless Ndc administration though. We all know this administration is having problems managing our finances despite the huge debt it has accumulated for the past six years so why is the government insisting of providing free school uniform, sandals and sanitary pads to children, something that is the responsibility of parents whilst neglecting the government core responsibility of providing teaching materials? THE ANSWER, FOLKS IS POLITICS.
During election time, you will hear from the NDC ‘idiota’ propagandists like Kwame Boahen and Solomon Nkansah trumpeting how the government has provided free uniforms, sandals and sanitary pads to school children without telling you out of the over six million school children, only ten thousand(10,000) are enjoying these largesse but the government will rather do this than to provide chalk because it is a winning message politically.
Our children education is being kicked around like a soccer ball by this administration with goodies to less than .20 percent of qualified school children, actually o.167%(10,000 divided by 6,000,000×100). The government is flummoxing the populace with this nonsense of providing free uniforms and sandals when less than one percent of school children are enjoying this largesse.
The government should revert to its core responsibility of providing teaching materials and leave parents to provide uniforms, sandals and sanitary pads.
Mrs Matilda “MEMA MO CHALK NE MEMA MO CHALK EKYENA” Amissah-Arthur and this Ndc administration are behaving like some folks here in USA who have their electricity service and cable service turned off for non-payment. These folks will pay their cable bill first leaving their electricity bill unpaid without realizing that they cannot watch their shows on cable without electricity. What is the use of school uniforms, sandals and sanitary pads for schoolchildren to go to school when the Teachers don’t have essentials to teach them? We call it putting the cart infront of the horse and this government has been doing a lot of that.
We have a proverb in Akan that goes like this; “y3y3 de3 ehia ansa na ya y3 de3 efata” To wit, we do the important things first before artistic beauty.
The most important thing here is for the government to provide teaching materials first and if they have more money, then think about providing uniforms, sandals and sanitary pads. Maybe this government has not heard this Akan proverb because it has few Akans in its midst and people like Kwadwo Boahene or whatever his name is and Solomon Nkansah are not intelligent to even advise dog catchers let alone Ministers.
I have read comments about this issue on the internet and those Ndc nitwits who support blindly are defending this abusive woman who might be abusing the Vice-President emotionally with her action in public by saying the Headmistress should have directed her request to the Education Officials. My answer is that, these Education Officials are there, the Minister of Education and his two Deputies not counting the District Directors of Education who could have presented the measly five computers that is not even one to a class since we have six classes from P1-P6 but the second Lady of the land was sent. First, what position does she hold or the constitution assigned her for her to be going around distributing government provided computers if not politics?
We hardly hear from this woman and the government should have left her tethered to whatever tree she has been tethered to for all this time because anytime they unleash her, she does something to show she is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
This is the same lady that went to a festival held by the people of DZODZE in Volta Region and insulted the Chiefs of the Dzodze traditional area by refusing to shake their hands because she did not want to contract the ebola virus by shaking their hands when not a single case of ebola had been reported in Ghana.
Hopefully Lady “MEMA MO CHALK NE EMA MO CHALK EKYENA” will come down from her high horse and apologize to the People of Ghana for behaving badly and afterwards sent back to where she came from to hibernate.
Justice Sarpong
(CARDINAL of TRUTH)