Daily Heritage November 17

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DAILY
Politics
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
HERITAGE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2017
Access to education will create meaningful
lives for refugee youth — Prez Akufo-Addo
THE PRESIDENT of the Republic,
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-
Addo, has indicated that, in his
view, access to education is the only
way by which the world can foster a
sense of cohesion and solidarity
amongst displaced persons, especially
of those of school going age,
and, help create for them, an enabling
environment, which will
spur them on to lead more purposeful
and dignified lives.
According to President Akufo-
Addo, education is the key to
human development and to widening
life's options for individuals and
society as a whole, stating that it is
the hope of every mother and father
that education will help their
children escape poverty and give
them access to a good life.
However, the President indicated
that this is not the case for
the 66 million people forcibly displaced
all over the world, out of
which some 23 million are described
as refugees.
“The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, in a
report, notes that ‘refugees are five
times more likely to be out of
school than the global average.
Only 50 per cent of refugee children
have access to primary education,
compared with a global
average of more than 90 per cent’,”
he said.
The Gap
President Akufo-Addo continued,
“The gap, according to the
same report, widens, as these children
become older, ‘with only 22
per cent of refugee adolescents attending
secondary school compared
to a global average of 84 per
cent. At the higher education level,
fewer than one per cent of
refugees attend university, compared
to 34 per cent at global
level’.”
This, the President stated, is not
right, as “the spectre of tens and
tens of millions of young refugees
growing up without the needed
skills to create a meaningful life for
themselves is a dangerous one.”
President Akufo-Addo made
this known on Thursday, 16th November,
2017, when he delivered
the keynote address at the 2017
World Innovation Summit for Education,
in Doha, Qatar, on the
theme “Asset over Burden – Education
for Refugee Youth.”
As co-Chair of the 2030 United
Nations Sustainable Development
Goals Advocates Group of Eminent
Personalities, the President
stated that “if the noble goal of the
SDGs is to ensure that no one is
left behind, and, amongst others, to
guarantee education for all, then we
must seek to empower those left
behind as a result of conflict and
war. We should commit ourselves
to building a world where every
child has the opportunity to better
him or herself, and, by so doing,
better the global community.”
Africa must industrialise
With Africa having the world’s
second fastest economic growth
rates, the world's fastest-growing
region for foreign direct investment,
and in possession of nearly
30 percent of the earth's remaining
mineral resources, President
Akufo-Addo said it is disheartening
to find that African youths do not
see a future in their respective
countries, and are willing to cross
the Sahara desert on foot and
drown in the Mediterranean Sea, in
a desperate bid to reach the mirage
of a better life in Europe.
He attributed this situation to
the structure of the majority of
African economies, which are dependent
on the production and export
of raw materials, economies,
he added, cannot produce wealth
and prosperity for the masses on
the continent.
“It, therefore, drives the determination
to seek a much better
standard
of living out
of Africa,
thereby, fuelling
the
refugee crises
and the numerous
counts of illegal
migrations,”
he
said.
“What
the evidence
from history
and the experience
of
many countries
have
• President Nana Akufo-
Addo delivering a speech
at the World Innovators
Summit on Education
shown is that it is not natural resources
that build nations. It is people
who build nations. It is not
gold, cocoa, diamonds, timber or
oil that is going to build Africa. If
it was, it would have done so already.
It is Africans, especially the
youth of today, who are going to
build Africa,” he said.
Premium on education
It is for this reason, he told the
gathering that Ghana, under his administration,
has placed a premium
on education, leading up to the introduction
of the free Senior High
School policy.
“All this is being done, because
we want to throw open the doors
of opportunity and hope to our
young people, and help build a new
African civilisation, governed by
the rule of law, respect for individual
liberties and human rights, and
the principles of democratic accountability,
which will provide the
basis for the new Africa of prosperity
and dignity, no longer dependent
on aid or charity,”
President Akufo-Addo stressed.
• President Robert Mugabe
Mugabe’s
legacy,
dignity must
be protected
– Rawlings
FORMER PRESIDENT
of Ghana, Jerry John
Rawlings has called on
power holders in Zimbabwe
to protect the
legacy of the country’s beleaguered
President Robert Mugabe
as power appear to be transitioning
in the country.
Mugabe, who has been ruling
the country since 1980, is said to
be confined to his home in Harare
while unconfirmed reports say his
wife Grace, who was bidding to
succeed him as president, has fled
to Namibia.
The military’s action followed
the sacking of Vice-President Emmerson
Mnangagwa, a fierce rival
of Mrs Mugabe.
It is believed that negotiations
are ongoing for Mr Mnangagwa to
take over from Mr Mugabe, who is
93.
In a statement on the development,
Mr Rawlings said: “As unavoidable
as the Zimbabwe
situation may be, let us hope that
the transition occurs without destroying
Mugabe’s legacy and dignity
unduly. His African pride,
dignity and audacity were unassailable.
He served and lived for the
dignity of his fellow black in a
manner that so many of us fell
very short of.”
The military’s
action followed
the sacking of
Vice-President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, a
fierce rival of
Mrs Mugabe.