PRESIDENT MAHAMA AT UCC; 'TO LOSE ELECTIONS ON PRINCIPLE THAN WIN USING FALSEHOOD'

PRESIDENT MAHAMA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST: “BETTER TO LOSE THE ELECTONS ON PRINCIPLE THAN WIN USING FALSEHOOD”.

Students had started trooping into the main auditorium to secure seats for the president’s address, which was expected to commence by 5:30 pm. Members of the TEIN_UCC community had converged to organize the stage ahead of the scheduled time. Students could be seen stretching for NDC customized JOHN MAHAMA t-shirts, as the whole auditorium got decorated with the NDC party colours. The scene got more interesting when a group of “morale boys” wearing t-shirts labeled, “Spio-Gabrah fan club for Mahama” took over the stage and were later joined by another group of ladies (doves for Mahama), attracting cameras from all sides of the human flooded auditorium. Major developmental projects of the NDC government in the cape coast north constituency were projected on screen for the crowd to watch, as they impatiently waited for the arrival of the president.

The president finally arrived at about 8:20pm, and was greeted with a standing ovation, amidst cheers and shouts of NDC slogans.  The vice chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. D. D Kuupoli in his welcome address, welcomed and thanked His excellence the president for willingly making time out of his laborious campaign schedule to address the university community for the second time this year. He promised that; on a probable third visit of the president, the government assigned university roads shall be tarred by then. The chairman of the university council, Mr. Nana Sam Brew-Butler, introduced the president with a gimmick, where he referred to the president as a wise man, who has attracted many awesome accolades for his humility. But before the president mounted the stage, the deputy minister of education, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, addressed the mammoth student gathering on the pertinent issues that the president shall deliberate on, describing the him as a non-disappointing president. He also acknowledged the changing of the university’s vice chancellor following the expiration of his 4-year tenure of office as vice chancellor.

The president after his salutation, first addressed the issues of school fees and the utility fees, as students kept chanting “school fees, school fees” in loud and louder peaks. He explained that the government is aware of the economic burdens of students, and as such did not bill students for utility fees. “As a matter of constitutional provision, government shall progressively make tertiary education free as GDP grows”, he said. The president also announced that Government has over the years invested in providing educational infrastructure for the tertiary institutions, where he cited infrastructural projects at different stages of completion, at the University of Cape Coast. The  construction of; administration block – 85%, science complex annex – 60%, medical science building – 75%, sms laboratory complex – 75%, school of business - 60%, sms library -75%, etc.

He addressed the gathering on the challenges of globalization, and its adverse effects on national security, where he alluded to terrorism in fellow African countries like; Nigeria and Burkina Faso. He said, climate change had also greatly affected world agriculture, which has directly impacted negatively on national financial economies, and even well known stable countries like; Venezuela, Nigeria, Brazil, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia, with higher GDPs are facing financial crisis, leading to the reduction of government’s subsidies in these countries. Despite this challenge, Ghana is still able to fair well. He said Ghana’s economic growth was around 4.9% in the first quarter of the year.

The presidential candidate for the NDC further mentioned the single spine salary structure and poor electricity energy, as other challenges his government inherited.  The single spine salary structure launched Ghana into a financial malady, so government went into the IMF bailout to stabilize the micro economy because the cedi was depreciating sharply. So IMF tamed wages and salaries, through negotiating with labour ahead of the national budget, so as not to launch government into a deficit. He also posited that; Ghana has the highest primary school enrolment, with gender parity at ratio 1:1. This has increased the number of JHS graduates, so government has promised 200 community day SHSs, and 123 of which are under construction.

On the issue of Electricity, he said, after Nkrumah constructed the volta hydro power which was worth 900MW of power, Ghana then could only use about 300MW, so previous governments had continuously enjoyed the privilege without caring to add to the power supply. Unfortunately today, Ghana is experiencing the worse, as the power got very low at a time when generation of power is now very expensive. He said government however promised to fix the popular phrase “dumsor” and actually did fixed it. “And now I can say that; government has finally stabilized electricity, and looks forward to energy security with the Etuabo gas plant”, he said.

The president again stated that; the NDC manifesto for the December 7 elections includes a heavy investment in agriculture, to boost the country’s GDP. He mentioned some major projects undertaken by government; the Kumasi shoe factory, Komenda sugar factory, which have directly and indirectly provided jobs for many Ghanaians. He further posited that; Ghana is one of the leading countries among her African compatriots, and yet we have a group of people who don’t appreciate it. He said; “when we wake up every day to concentrate on our failures and what we have not been able do, and become pessimistic of our country, what progress can we make?”

The long and interesting presidential address ended with questions and answers, where he answered a question regarding the speculation that; ECG is to be privatized. He restated that he is a social democrat and would not sell ECG to any private company. He said government will only allow room for public/private partnership in the collection of electricity bills.  “The millennium challenge compact will not lead to the privatization of ECG. ECG will remain a 100% state owned enterprise,” he declared. Then on a question on restoring teacher trainee allowances, John Dramani Mahama had this to say; “I am very compassionate but also principled, better to lose the elections on principle than win using falsehood”. He indicated that; some people for partisan reasons go about promising that they would restore teacher trainee allowances, which is obviously false. He is not reversing government’s decision.

The president of the republic also answered a question on corruption, he said; government has established the national anti corruption plan and has prosecuted all public leaders found culpable of corruption. However Ghana’s constitution does not allow for dealing with suspected corrupt leaders, until prosecution by a court of law. He again reiterated that the IMF bailout has immensely benefited Ghanaians through; reduction in inflation to 14%, a stable economic growth, etc.  He said, government has also embarked on the affordable housing system, which shall afford everybody a house at the preferred location in the near future. On the issue of graduate unemployment, he finally advised students to look at the job prospects of certain university courses, and not just accept admission because such courses are easily available for placement at the university.

What influences your reactions?

YOUR BRAIN; YOUR REACTIONS

We are what our brains are made of. Our actions and reactions have a direct link to our thoughts. Once your mind dictates your emotions, then willy-nilly your actions have no choice.

But when we act solely on emotions, we minimise our ability to reason well,  and we hastily make unfavourable decisions. EMOTIONS without CONSCIENCE is in effect like; confidently handing over a deadly weapon to a mentally challenged.
May you always balance your feelings with reasoning, to bring out the best in us.

poem: "we have harmed them"

"WE HAVE HARMED THEM"

We have harmed them so much
At times they had no choice in the midst of choices
Conception is by nature, but civilisation has the sole discretion to keep conception
They never paid heed to civilisation
So the spirit became flesh

Yes! we have harmed them
From sperm to zygote, and to foetus
They uncomfortably hosted us in that safe chamber
Predisposing them to a ticket to the next world
They bore the flatulence type; that denied them some social rights.

And stigmatisation became rife in the public gallery
And days were like years for nine months
But the hope of a new life was enough a motivation
So the spirit of sperm became full flesh

We harmed them no less
When we visited them with a bag of hormonal effects
Uterine contractions that welcomed pains
They laboured with no right to remuneration
And life was a collateral for another life

We forever harmed them
When we freely sucked milk countless times
From some two milk companies; and we were even Oliver Twists of milk
Despite the odd times; we were duly served milk
And we gradually collapsed the ligaments of their breast

So they lost the pride in those two breasts that shaped their cleavage
They offered us free transportation from their own energy expense
In the wake of the public opprobrium; Crying in the bus and soiling clothes in the market.
They still loved us and gave us the best of nursing

They sacrificed their lives for our lives
We are forever indebted to them
But we have harmed them so much
Ever to pay them back??

🏻HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOTHERS!!
We must love our mothers back.

Please share to all women to make them proud.


©The Coordinator
💯 Ey3 Maximum!!

SUCCESS IS THE OUTPUT OF HARDWORK

"SUCCESS IS THE OUTPUT OF HARDWORK"

Every journey has an ultimate destination. We are all too soon drawing closer to our end of semester examinations and the workload is increasing, but gradually coming to an end. Indeed, we all started the semester with some objectives. Many of us are targeting at excelling in various courses and to achieve this, we must make hay while the sun shines. We are individually all harboring and nurturing different dreams. These dreams are strong. But they are made much stronger by our determination and passion to succeed. Let’s remember that; “hard work pays”.

Sometimes it seems right and easier to blame God or others, when our prayers are not answered and our wishes unattained, than to look within ourselves and discover how we may have contributed to our own failure. Accusing God as being insensitive to our plight, and accusing others as being impediments of our success, make us appear like the innocent agents of the very forces behind our failure. The truth though is that, such incongruous accusations might not necessarily be the reality after all. “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than everything” – Abraham Lincoln

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them” – J. Brodsky. We can always have an excuse for failing an exam, but we definitely have no excuse for not preparing well. Thus, we are hereby admonished as students to read our books, so that we can be well prepared for even emergencies.

GOODLUCK TO ALL UCC STUDENTS AHEAD OF THE END OF SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS!


Signed........

 CHEYE HUDI MAXWELL
(THE CO🚫RDIN🅰TOR)
(BSC. MEDLAB, LEV 200)

CAN THE GOVERNMENT CHANGE THE FORTUNES OF INDIVIDUAL PURSES IN THE SISSALA EAST DISTRICT?

It is still vague what the future portends with many within the locus of the Sissala east district attributing their economic hardships to leadership. The district has become a foot-stool for political segregation. It is even not uncommon to hear people of various age groups express their unhappiness about the state of affairs in the district. While just a few people are patriotically committed to their ways of livelihood, many are also either directly or indirectly blaming leadership for their individual purses’ emptiness. This write up seeks to disambiguate the mystery of government greasing individual purses.  But for how long will we continue blaming fellow brothers and sisters for our individual woes?
Contrition twines me like failure, any time I come upon the wake of my clan, traducing leadership over personal misfortunes such as poverty.  The Sissala east district has become a place where politics has taken its manifestation in almost every aspect of life. Politics has become a job for even non-politicians. Two friends meet at the market square, funeral grounds or even on the way to farm and the topic they discuss is politics. The topic is even interesting and engaging that, people squander their working periods chatting politics. Come to think of it, politics has no defined time in the district. This adversely affects productivity. Meanwhile, the topic does not bring home any benefits.
The unceasing wagging of political vendetta against fellow brothers and sisters has become more virulent in recent times. People who least understands politics are seen fomenting and triggering chaos. Father is seen against son, brother against brother and sister against sister when politics is called into play. As a result of this dirty game, people are prepared with their doubtful eyes shaded with pessimism to witness their fellows farm produce burnt into ashes. People pray and long for ill-fates for their brothers and sisters. How can we cross the poverty line with this malady in our society? I cannot even imagine that such ferocity could tear oneself from another, as this politics. We had better tuned over a new leaf.
Another setback in the Sissala east district is chieftaincy disputes. Many communities in this area after losing their chiefs, the enskinment of a new chief have always been the author of pandemonium. Notable amongst these communities are: Walembelle, Bugubelle and fellow brothers, Funsi. In most instances, two or more people aspire to be en-skinned chiefs. The followers of these two people are turned against one another and `violence begets more violence`. It is either sectionalism or a recall of traditionalism. The traditional origin of some community subjects could be traced and underlined with some bold and severe punishments according to outmoded traditional laws, ancient bye-laws and other unfathomable ancestral dictations. Trust me; a subject could be fined two to three cattle for the normal `freedom of expression` which traditional leaders interpret as breach of tradition. This further places a compounded burden on an already burdened poor folk.
The subject of the day now switches from politics to chieftaincy issues. Productivity again is adversely affected and fellow lives even sacrificed. Thus, development comes to a standstill as people shirk responsibilities. The obvious repercussion of this is not less than self-imposed hardship on community members. And the dangling question again is; who is to blame for this hardship? The answer indeed is apparent.
Moreover, the climate of the Sissala east district suggests just one season of serious farming throughout a year.  The other half of the year elapses with able-bodied men and women wandering and idling around, waiting for another rainy season. During this time, the produce from the previous year are consumed by the same producers who care least about management (i.e. subsistent farming). Most young men seek menial self-employment at `GALAMSEYS` across the country or if at home, also help to finish the meagre produce available. The apparent result again is activated abject poverty on the people.

Of course the leadership of the area is not blind to these phenomena. But how many interventions do we see to that effect? Virtually none at all! This is a climatic effect that has existed and continues to even fluctuate into the normal rainy season. The cause of this is yet another big topic worth discussing. Hmmmmmnnnn!!!!!!!!!   Despite government’s (leadership) muteness on this plague, duly affected individuals must attempt to solve their own problems. If we don’t seek other ways of enhancing productivity, at all times, this menace will continue to be a lifelong problem. Let’s remember that, ‘he who runs away from a battle, lives to fight it another time’ so the earlier the better for the affected.
I am vehemently convinced that, regardless of whichever side of the coin we choose to focus our lenses from, the onus lies on us the individuals to seek change, do right and make sound decisions for the betterment of our individual lives. We must respond appropriately to government’s exercises to offer the correct data representation of our district, we must devise other possible ways of generating income other than just crop farming, we ought to use to the only RADFORD FM as its name suggests, instead of politicking every now and then to no effect, and lastly, we have to always elect good and competent leaders, instead of politicians who can only speak Sissali to village folks to be voted leaders, and later become deaf and dumb at workplaces.
So, when by sunset, we face a fair share of our personal challenges, let’s share in the blame and not just attribute it to government or leadership. In fact, the Sissala east district seems not to have leadership, so who could we be blaming at all?

To sum up, the fortunes of our individual purses remains a total dependence on us. We either tackle our already known problems squarely or continue to languish with same old problems bordering our lives.  In fact, I think leadership (government) only plays a partner in our relentless quest for better lives.

FROM "SLIT SKIRT" TO "MINISKIRT"

 FROM "SLIT SKIRT" TO "MINISKIRT"

It seemed I had lost my sense of reasoning at that point of inflection. My dependable eye lenses viewed every ghastly figure with a chromatic aberration, as i could not discriminate between black and white. There I stood on that threshold, with a variety of thoughts undulating along in my mind. Well, that was mentally intriguing: but my eyes were actually doing their best. It was neither an elusive mirage in my mind nor a visual aberration; it was the black I had known that had capriciously turned white. Hmmmnn! the most revered areal swollen part of my mother’s daughter was shabbily covered with a transparent linen in a disguised fashion. For her frontal view, I refused to catch a second glimpse at it. Her swollen chest was barely covered too and that revealed some two pendulums that I supposed were willingly adjusted to swing and dangle like prodded jelly fishes. The purpose of this, I presumed was to advertise a GOD given personal property. I was spellbound by the half nude figure that stood in front of me. In fact, the figure spoke less of my mother.

With gross shamelessness, my mother’s daughter seemed to be content and happy with her garments, as she intermittently danced to some rhythmic sounds produced by a small Whitman device (mobile phone) which was connected to her ears by some thin thread called “ear phones”. Indeed, her costume together with her rhythmic movements really caught for her some mass attention. Of course, I was a part of the masses too. Most interestingly, my mother’s daughter seemed to have accomplished her mission; as her viewers were all left with no other choice than to steal several glances at her exposed admirable figure. Then I realized she was happy for an act well played.

I also reminisced my mother’s costume twenty years ago, back in antiquity. How nice and decent they were but grotesque in modern fashion. I compared and contrasted both my mother’s costume and that of her daughter’s garments, and my mother’s costume were not only good looking but were also Godly acceptable. “Obviously, my mother’s daughter must be sinning against her viewers and her creator, rather so obliviously”. I pondered.

Just then, a metal horse pulled up by the other side of the road and my mother’s daughter advanced towards it in response to some open gestures. The rider of the metal horse was a thick-tall Black-man, dressed in some western black suit that was accompanied by a similarly black neck tie. It was apparent that the rider of the metal horse could have been about twenty years older than my mother’s daughter. My mother's daughter was ushered into the metal horse, where she ensconced herself on the seat next to the metal horse rider. He meticulously canoodled and hugged her, but her reaction was however sardonic. At first, I thought his advances were unrequited, until the man handed over an envelope to her, just after a mutually agreed kiss this time round, and that suggested that he could not have been my father. Well, everything that followed was strictly behind scenes. My mother’s daughter carelessly slammed the gate to the metal horse and the duo sped away with some ostentatious display of riding momentum. Ooh Shit!!  I would not see those exposed bootylicious parts or get to watch that interesting movie that was premiered inside the metal horse again.

 It was actually a Sunday morning, and I guessed the two were speeding to the church down the “school bus” road. ………………………………………..dE-nCheyebiSUo!!!

prime causes of graduate unemployment in Ghana

THE PRIME CAUSES OF GRADUATE UNEMPLOYMENT IN GHANA

 

Over the years, graduate unemployment has been a major problem in Ghana.  Unemployment is one the significant challenges facing almost all developing countries in the world today. In spite of successive government’s efforts in solving this problem, it appears they have not made any stride in their quest for lasting solutions to this problem. It is not even clear what the future portends with Ghana’s failure to outline the root causes of this graduate unemployment. The causes of graduate unemployment in Ghana includes the following; the search for experienced workers, graduate’s pride, lack of practical knowledge, impact of technology in the field of work, et cetera.

One pivotal cause of graduate unemployment in Ghana is the search for experienced workers. Ghanaian employers believe that experienced workers are the best human resource that can increase productivity. Thus, most employers in the world are dire quest of old, experienced and skilled workers to employ. In the light of this, it is very common to chance job advertisements on newspapers and radio stations clearly outlining five to ten years working experience requirement.  On the contrary, it is very obvious that most graduates actually lack these skills required by the working field.  One cannot deny the fact that, graduates are not served the due skills worth the world of work. This is apparent with the abysmal performance of graduates these days at their workplaces. Perhaps, with a good and skill-oriented educational system, graduates from the university can fit well into the working arena.

 

Another major cause of graduate unemployment in Ghana is the graduate’s pride. University education in Ghana is hyped so high that graduates tend to search only for jobs with good working conditions. They forget that “the journey of a thousand mile begins with one step”. In recent times, most graduates will not accept employment in field works such as; welding, carpentry, masonry, et cetera. They rather would like to sit in the office with air condition. Most graduates will accept employment on the condition that they are given a car, a driver an apartment, and fully finished office. However, Ghana does not have such lucrative jobs to offer these over-ambitious graduates. Many of these graduates are mostly seen rather fomenting troubles in the towns and cities. The pride in these graduates makes them glued to the towns and cities and constituting willing tools in the hands of political figures. Thus, until graduates begin to appreciate and recognize the impact of field works to the development of the nation, the massive unemployment among university graduates may continue to be a problem.

 

Moreover, lack of practical knowledge continues to be a cardinal cause of graduate unemployment. There is very wide gap between academia and industry. The educational system in Ghana seems to be producing countless graduates who cannot solve the problems of the day. Outmoded educational that do not address societal needs are still pursued in the Ghanaian universities. This is not the case in some advanced countries, where the educational sector takes the problems of the day and tries to solve. In Ghana, a mechanical engineering graduate may mention all the parts and functions of a car engine but cannot identify even a single part of the car engine.  So, when such a graduate is offered employment, he/she totally rely on the machine’s manuals to operate the machine. This definitely does not solve Ghana’s problems. Hence, university graduates are usually not appropriate for such practical jobs and this renders them unemployed.

 

Indeed, the impact of technology cannot be left out as a cause of graduate unemployment in Ghana. In spite of the good deeds of technology in the working field, it also remains a major cause of the redundancy of workers at work places. Technology has really drastically affected the population of workers in the offices. The invention of the computer for instance, has seen the reduction of human workers as messengers. In almost all institutions, the record keeping departments that could have employed many graduates have been dissolved. The computer now stores every bit of data and information.  Also most graduates cannot operate certain technological devices and computers used in the advanced working industry. The simultaneous operation of an electron microscope is too cumbersome for the careless university graduate to work with. This therefore disqualifies most university graduates from being offered such jobs. Thus, technological advancement in Ghana’s working field is actually partly responsible for the ever increasing numbers of unemployed graduates in the country.

To sum up, Graduate unemployment appears to be on the increase because; Ghana’s government policies do not favor the educational sector that produces the graduates, university graduates tend to seek only good paying jobs and ignoring the experience that they would acquire to make them the employers choices. Lastly, the impact of technology is also a factor worth considering when it comes to unemployment.  The problem of graduate unemployment will become a thing of the past, if the nation is ready to comprehend the effects of a poor educational sector. Any approach less than this, the problem of unemployment in general will continue to be a lifelong malady in the Ghanaian society.