Ghanaian Universities and the Complex Question of Degrees in Pen Robbery ?
Education plays a pivotal role in the development of a country. Ghana is no exception. The government of Ghana pays a great deal of attention to the advancement of the educational sector in order to ensure national development and the development of her people. This article will primarily discuss graduates who complete the universities and are offered appointments within the government and the ministries and government related companies like Cocoa Marketing companies, energy, mines and minerals and oil related companies. These graduates are employed in these areas with the view to promoting or enhancing development.? However, it is a known fact that when students?pass out from the walls of the universities to assume certain positions in society, the certificates they have acquired suddenly become degrees in pen robbery or better still, white collar robbery. ?
Ghana is a country with a total land area of 92,100 sq. miles(240,000sq km) stretching 672km from North to South and 357km from east to west. Ghana's physical size is about the same as Great Britain. Ghana has massive agricultural products but due to poor roads, ineffective preservation methods and no factories to process the products to last for long, we still import food. We are rich in mineral resources, such as gold, diamond, manganese, limestone, bauxite, iron ore, clay and granite deposits. Ghana has all these but we continue to suffer because those in control continue to grab, steal and plunder government institutions and companies by a mere stroke of a pen. According to Kan Dapaah, more than twenty reports on corruption have not been taken care of by parliament for so many years. Besides, many ministries have not submitted their final accounts for many years now. This gives room for robbery and corruption. The Public Accounts Committee is partly to be blamed. Due to party affiliations they are unable to bring to book officers who have been corrupt. ?
Corruption, plundering of public funds and pure robbery make nonsense Ghana is among the largest producers of gold, cocoam wood and wood products. We also have clay and granite deposits. Is it not a shame that Ghana is still poor and struggling? This shameful situation can be placed right at the doorsteps?of the educated elites who steer the ship of State. They have turned their degrees into pure robbery. Those who are supposed to make things work are busy filling their pockets and those of their families. ?
Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of Ghanaian society. All government related agencies and companies like Tema Ports and Harbour Authority (TPHA), Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), Ghana Passport and Immigration Service(GPIS) and many others are all controlled, managed and directed by people with university degrees. With intellectuals directing such places, one would have expected honesty, success, profitability, probity and accountability on the grounds that these officers studied and specialized in what they have been appointed for. Unfortunately what we see today is deliberate lack of control of other officers and workers at these places, misappropriation of funds, corruption and improper accounts and lack of supervision. It is due to such improper behaviour which landed the former director of GNPC in jail. ?
The financial position of Ghana is weak and this has reached HIPC level, and this means Ghana can now be classified as a highly indebted poor country. This is mostly due to the reckless spending of the NDC government during the election period. The news is that Ghana can no longer be accepted or admitted into the HIPC family. Therefore to make up for the hole created in the country's finances, the government has arbitrarily put taxes on everything in the country, including condoms and 'pure water'. The general hardship in Ghana has kept Ghanaians wondering whether the country is safe in the hands of those who profess to hold university degrees. Due to this financial crisis and budgetary problems, the government assumes it is not possible to provide free education from primary to Senior High school. That is quite naïve and selfish because when? we compare Ghana to Bolivia, whose poverty level is fifty per cent, in terms of individual family poverty affecting the entire population according to U.S census bureau, and is still able to allocate twenty three per cent of the national budget to education and is able to offer free education up to Senior High School. It is a shame that we continue to double-cross ourselves and assume that free education in Ghana is not feasible.
The saying that it is possible for Ghana to mobilize its total manpower and intellectual capability for the technological, industrial, economic and scientific rebuilding of the country is just a nightmarish day dreaming because many degree holders, researchers and professionals have all turned criminals breaking into the country’s coffers with their pens. The citizens have placed their trust in such people to advance the course of development and progress, but what do we see? These intellectuals are wicked, materialistic and lazy. Graduates prefer to enter parliament and enjoy the big salary and all the privileges that go with it, rather than engaging in research that could promote industrial development which in turn will provide jobs for many.
We must admit that in Ghana we have managers but not leaders. We must also admit that our managers who call themselves leaders have, over the years, run the economy along the lines of politics of the belly, an excessive lust for wealth and power along crude, tribal and familiar lines. All efforts to deal with corruption must start from the top.?The government must be seen to provide good, accountable and responsible governance.
Public office is supposed to be a public trust and this is why under the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29), every public officer who commits corruption in respect to the duties of his office and every person who corrupts a public officer in his duties as such is guilty of an offence. We all know we have not done much in exposing corrupt officials. The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.
Written by: Stephen Atta Owusu
Author: Dark Faces at Crossroads
Email: [email protected]