Daily Heritage December 5

Inside Dec 5.qxp_Layout 1 12/4/17 10:22 PM Page 8
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
DAILY HERITAGE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017 11
Politics
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because
those who mind don't matter, and those who
matter don't mind” ― Bernard M. Baruch
Make Africa more
attractive to end
modern-day slavery
• Apostle Amoako Atta tells leaders
We know those who
scrap pro-poor policies
– President Akufo-Addo
THE PRESI-
DENT of the
Republic, Nana
Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo,
has reiterated
that the Free Senior High School
Policy, launched this year, on
September 12, will be sustained
and is here to stay.
According to President
Akufo-Addo, “I know, and I am
sure I am not the only one who
has heard the people who are
mounting political platforms,
speaking on television and radio,
and putting up posts on social
media hoping and praying for
this policy to collapse.”
He continued, “We know
those who have a record for
scrapping pro-poor policies –
nursing and teacher trainees will
bear testimony. I wish to assure
them that Free SHS will be sustained,
that Free SHS is here to
stay. The overwhelming majority
of Ghanaians support the choice
that I have made in implementing
Free SHS”.
President Akufo-Addo made
this known on Saturday, December
2, 2017, when he delivered a
speech at the 60th Anniversary
Celebrations of the Kumasi
•President Nana Akufo-Addo
Academy, in Kumasi.
The President stressed that
there is no part of Ghana that
does not recognise the importance
of education, adding that
“we have all accepted that education
is the best route to moving
out of poverty.”
He said it is for this reason
that he launched the Free Senior
High School policy, to ensure
that one of the biggest obstacles
that stood in the way of access
to secondary education, which is
cost, is removed.
“This has already led to an increase
of over 90,000 children,
who have entered secondary
school this academic year, who
would otherwise have dropped
out at this stage. Free SHS has
lifted the financial burden off
parents, and the heart-rending
anxiety that accompanies the beginning
of every school term,”
he said.
President Akufo-Addo said
he was, thus, surprised that because
of political expediency,
some would wish and pray for
this policy to fail.
Nonetheless, the President reiterated
that “my government
believes that we have a sacred
duty to our children, and the
generations beyond in ensuring
that irrespective of their circumstances,
whether of birth, status,
class, ethnic or religious affiliations,
their right to an education
is preserved.”
On the teething challenges
confronting the Free SHS policy,
the President acknowledged that
“these would be with any new,
bold initiative”.
He told the gathering that he
was inspired by the famous Chinese
adage that “a journey of a
thousand miles begins with the
first step”, explaining that “we
have taken that first step in
Ghana, and we shall deal with
the challenges.”
In dealing with the teething
challenges, President Akufo-
Addo stated that “[the] Government
has ordered thousands of
mono-desks and bunk beds, as
well as furniture for dining halls,
staff rooms, computer labs and
markers for classroom.”
In commemoration of Kumasi
Academy’s 60th Anniversary,
the President announced
that through the Ministry of Education,
a vocational centre
would be constructed for the
school and its library and ICT
centre completed.
BY PROSPER AGBENYEGA
THE FOUNDER of The Lord’s Parliament
Chapel International (former
Freedom Chapel International), Apostle
Francis Amoako Atta, has indicated
that the challenge that African countries,
including Ghana, are facing as regards
the slave trade in Libya can only
be surmounted if these nations rise up
and build their respective countries and
make it more attractive for their citizens.
According to him, although people
are aware of the barbaric killings and
inhuman treatments being meted out
to their fellow Africans in Libya,
drones of people keep migrating to
Libya for greener pastures which they
cannot find in their countries.
He said, “Why is it that upon all
that we are hearing and seeing, people
still travel to Libya. It is because probably
the conditions here are not good
for them, the jobs are not here and it
makes it difficult for a university graduate
to afford a square meal a day. So
what do you expect them to do?”
Apostle Amoako Atta, in an exclusive
interview with this reporter, also
said the time had come for African
leaders to stand up and condemn Libya
over this shameful modern day slavery
and bring them to justice.
According to him, Africa, at this
time, needs determined leaders that
can help build their country, establish
industries and create jobs for the teeming
youth so as to break the chain of
migration and by extension the slave
trade in Libya.
“When people find comfort wherever
they are, they would not think of
moving out because they are better at
where they are. Our leaders must take
the current situation in Libya as a test
case for them to stand up and build
their nation,” he said.
He, however, lauded the Ghanaian
government and its leaders for introducing
One-District-One-Factory program,
which will help create jobs and
help sustain livelihoods.
But he averred that the President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s
government must be committed to its
policy directions so as to achieve better
results for the entire nation.
“If the 1D1F is sustained and the
government ensures that it works perfectly,
I don’t think anyone will go to
Libya after hearing and seeing what is
happening out there. Look, all our
people want are jobs and money. Government
must open companies, build
factories so that everybody will at least
be comfortable in his or her own corner,”
he said.
The Apostle, who himself worked
in Libya from 1985 to 1988, also explained
that we talk about the slavery
in Libya without talking about the
cause of slavery in modern day society.
He mentioned that what we are
witnessing today is the result of the
decision our forefathers took to sell us
to the whites.
“The most potent tool in the hand
of the oppressor is the mindset of the
oppressed. Libyans always see us as
slaves. They refer to anybody with a
black skin as slave and that is why they
continue to treat us as such,” the
Apostle indicated.
He said the unfortunate incident of
modern day slavery could be attributed
to the mistake of our leaders 10 to 20
years ago because they failed to tackle
key macroeconomic challenges, including
unemployment and poverty that is
crippling most societies and the economy
at large.
“But we fail to ask the question,
what really contributes to immigration.
Migrants leave their country for elsewhere
partly because they feel insatiable
in their home country,” Apostle
Amoako Atta said.
He also said unemployment has
been the major factor causing these
migrants to flee from their land of to a
place they have no idea about.
He, however, stressed that in as
much as our leaders did not play their
part in solving key macroeconomic issues
the underlining factor causing
what we are witnessing in Libya and
elsewhere today would persist.
•Apostle Francis Amoako Atta