What is Good for the Geese……….Part I

I have been confronted with the issue of moral uprightness a number of times, and I cannot vouch that I have stood tall all those times. In a society where right is wrong and wrong is right especially if it involves us sometimes it is difficult to say what exactly the touchstone of morality is. So we waiver and bend to what majority holds upright or what wind is blowing at the time or what favors us.  I am culpable as anyone else and also a victim as anyone else.

I believe the only way that one can escape this prison of moral degeneration is to accept the life of Jesus as the moral yardstick. But I am not speaking from the Christian point of view, but from the point of view of what we all have to do so we can have a moral just and fair society. I am not proposing what needs to be done, but just sharing what I meet with everyday as a common teacher in neglected school.

What we do today whether right or wrong affect present and future generations. One way or the other, we all profess a belief in one faith or the other.  It beats my understanding that irrespective of the number of faith and religious groups that spring up every day; greed, injustices and all forms of moral degradation envelope our society today. The corrupt politician, civil servant, public servant, businessman, student, individual are all part of the society, attend a religious meeting and upholds the beliefs that we all share. 

Every year when my students get to the final year, they become obsessed with passing their exams through any means possible.  The means do not involve working hard at their books but cheating in the exams to pass. Such penchant for cheating reached a crescendo this year when very earlier before they even got registered there were rumors that someone could help them have their grades changed. Some of my students approached me and said they actually spoke with the person and he wanted a teacher to be a liaison between him and the student. I declined. My students were disappointed. To them I was the only one they could trust to do that for them and since I declined that means their hopes were dashed.

I did not feel completely heroic. I felt some dint of guilt that I was unable to help them achieve their dreams. But was I not doing that already? Teaching them and inspiring them in the classroom, showing them all the opportunities that lie ahead of them if the study hard! My students believe that is not enough and that we should do more including cheating in exams for them to pass.

What makes this situation precarious is that they have evidence that other schools are engaged in such practices to make them pass. The harder I try to explain to them why they should not do that, the more they point to what is happening elsewhere. How other schools are passing courtesy their teachers but not the students efforts. And I will give in to defeat and accept what they say but not agree to do what they want.

But it is an open secret that some schools buy grades for their students. It is also widely known that some powerful parents buy certificates and grades for their wards. There have been a number of leakages of exam papers emanating from WAEC. If not from WAEC then where? After all they are the ones that have access to the papers. So what happens to many students who find themselves in situations that do not give them that access and chance others have?

Many of the students I teach already have poor academic backgrounds, are from poor homes and remote communities. They are in a school that has limited resources. Majority of them even lack faith in their own abilities and even that of us the teachers to motivate them to study and pass their exams. Cheating in exams is unacceptable. But where others use that and get ahead of others is also unacceptable and an injustice. And one feels cheated if he is unable to cheat so he can keep up with the Joneses.  For someone like me I feel guilty if I am not able to do that for my students. That is the guilt I carry all the times especially this year when only twelve out of over five hundred students pass their core Mathematics in my school.

Unless we create an equitable environment where everyone sees himself or herself being treated fairly, we do not have they moral right to judge the actions of others. We will accept that our society is corrupt, but it takes an uncorrupt leader to change a corrupt society. And we are all leaders in our own small ways. Where what is good for the gander is not good for the geese persists our fight against corruption and any form of moral degradation will be futile.

Time to Hold Politicians Accountable

Last year I was one of the people who felt the Electoral Commission should go ahead with the creating of new constituencies though some section of the electorate thought otherwise. The argument put forward for the EC not to go ahead with the creation of the new constituencies has to do with the timing. Those people felt that with the elections very close creating new constituencies may create chaos during the elections. But the new constituencies were created and the elections held and the elections results showed that those fears were unfounded.

I am, however, opposed to creation of new districts in principle as specified by the constitution that gave mandate to the EC to do so anytime the government creates new districts based on the data from a national decennial census. Such constitutional mandates for both the government and EC should be repealed. The government may argue creating new district and constituencies is a way of strengthening local government and deepening participatory democracy. But I think that this is hypocritical on the part of government since local government and participatory democracy are not enhanced by creating more districts and constituencies but strengthening institutions and structures of local and national governments.

Newly created districts will benefit from infrastructural development, but I ask the question, should we create new districts before we develop those areas? It is our right that our communities have good infrastructure whether or not they come under new districts. And it is the government’s responsibility to ensure these areas are developed. We should not make the government feel as if she is doing as a favor by creating new districts and promising that they will develop those districts through that. One should ask if governments are truly committed to making local government work and supporting metropolitan, municipal and districts developed the communities, why should she wait to create a new district before investing in developing that district? Where does the money all of sudden come from? Such act to me is insincere and a political strategy to keep the citizenry at the mercy of the politician.

An MP of Ghana basically has responsibilities to the Nation, constituency and party. Such responsibilities according to the Ghanaian Parliaments includes exercising legislative powers to the state through the introduction and passage of bills, explaining government policies to his constituents and monitoring development projects in his constituency and offering constructive criticism of the party’s policies. There is no mention of the MP providing development to his constituency. The MPs are the representatives of the people so is even our President. Does increasing the number of MPs in Parliament enhances the quality of their work in parliament and have positive effect on the electorate who put them there? If our argument is that number of MPs in parliament should show a proportional representation of the population, do we have to elect two presidents just because our population has increased?

I believe that the number of MPs should be fixed like the US House of Representatives. If this is not done every ten years we will be forced by the constitution to keep on increasing the number of MPs in our parliament. Increasing number of MPs will not improve the quality and standard of living of our people but rather put a further burden on government. Governments are quick to take on these new responsibilities but are not ready to take the necessary actions that safeguard continuous access of an increasing population to electricity, water, food, education, jobs and shelter. Let’s watch whether these new MPs in the current parliament who came as a result of the newly created constituencies will bring any difference to the lives of their people.

Finally we are one people and creating new districts only ends to bring sharp divisions along ethnic and chieftain lines. We are all witnesses to what happens when governments creates new district as to the situation of the district capitals and even boundary lines. The act of re-demarcating boarders and creating new districts out of old ones is a colonial tool to keep people in servitude to their masters.  I think that what we need to do is empower our assemblymen and women, unit committees and the chiefs so they can help mobilize their people for development.