THE PLIGHT OF GRADUATE STUDENTS IN GHANA (ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW)

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN'S FOLDER

There is no denying the fact that if there is one distinguishing factor between a developing country and a developed one, then it is RESEARCH, which forms the basis of technological advancements. Whilst the former sees research as a PRIORITY and invests so much time, energy and resources in support of research works, the latter sees a different picture and thus, adopts a nonchalant attitude towards it. The situation in Malaysia as against what pertains here in Ghana speaks volume to this assertion. I am using Malaysia and not the almighty Americas because it is a country that attained independence around the same time as Ghana. However, if today, you visited these two countries, you would think that Malaysia is a thousand years older than Ghana and I dare say that the huge developmental variance is attributable to research and how both countries perceive it.

In Ghana, and particularly in our recent history, not only do our lecturers make “noise” about the nonpayment of their book and research allowance, but many a time, they are compelled to even lay down their tools before government attempts to listen to them. How pathetic! Wait a minute, if you think the situation is bad with our lecturers, then I wonder how you would describe the plight of our graduate students, who are essentially pursuing higher learning through research and ordinarily, ought to be seen as the backbone of the nation’s technological advancement. It has become almost an impossibility to pursue a postgraduate programme in this country; ostensibly, because of the burdensome financial nightmare associated with it. Such that, if you are not fortunate to come from a very rich background, like say, children of Ministers of State, MPs, top government functionaries or renowned businessmen, then your pursuit of a postgraduate programme in Ghana can only be a DREAM. Unfortunately, that is the dilemma some of us have found ourselves. 

It has now become exceedingly expensive to pursue any postgraduate studies in the country. As we speak, the annual fees charged for these programmes is hovering around GH¢9,000 and GH¢14.000. It is therefore not surprising to note that a good number of graduate students defer their courses on semester basis and others, compelled to drop out of school prematurely. Astonishingly, this is the very time our government deems fit to withdraw almost all forms of subsidies associated with postgraduate education in the country. The thesis and research grant, otherwise known as BURSARY is basically an amount paid to graduate students by the government to support them in their research works. This policy had existed from the days of Nkrumah and all subsequent governments had committed to it until now. 

For the past three academic years, the amount payable as bursaries to these students has not been reviewed upwards as it still stands at GH¢450 - GH¢900 depending on one’s programme of study despite the rising cost of basic necessities. And even with that, this current government is hesitant in paying. Indeed, no student received a penny for last academic year (2015/16) and counting. The hard truth is that, the Mahama government wants to, as usual, CANCEL this policy, just as they did to the trainee allowance but in this particular instance, they are afraid of the political ramifications. In any case, how much are we talking about in all? Only GH¢3.5 million, which is less than the amount government spent on the infamous Smartys bus branding scandal. Indeed, governance is about choices; so the government of John Mahama has chosen bus rebranding over Graduate Education. Interesting…

This has justifiably incurred the wrath of graduate students in the country, having exhausted all avenues to get the government to release their bursaries. And for the first time in the history of this country, these students have been compelled to stage a DEMONSTRATION on September 29, to drive home their misgivings under the circumstances. As the immediate past national secretary of NUGS and a student activist, I was actively involved in the demonstration even though I'm not a postgraduate student and this is consistent with our principle of student solidarity. Let me give you a brief account of what happened and set some records straight. To start with, the event came off successfully contrary to an erroneous and mischievous reportage by Metro Tv suggesting otherwise. I never expected such unprofessional journalistic conduct from an otherwise fine media house like Metro and I expect them to do the honourable thing. 

Yes, the event delayed a little bit because we had to wait for our colleagues (GRASAG members) from all the regions. The procession started around 9:45am and in our hundreds, we marched through the principal streets of Accra and eventually converged at the Hearts Park, where we were scheduled to present our petition to an official of the Ministry of Finance, precisely, Casley Ato Forson, the Deputy Finance Minister. Surprisingly, he never showed up. We waited for more than an hour and there was still no show from him. Meanwhile, he was sitting comfortably at the Ministry which is in fact, very close to the Park, where we had converged but he felt “too big” to step out of his cozy ambience to grant us audience. Not even the attempt by the police, led by the Greater Accra Regional Director of Operations, Ghana Police Service, DSOP Freeman Tetteh could convince this Deputy Minister to come and receive our petition. 

Absolutely livid with the Deputy Minster’s “misconduct”, we decided to march straight to the Ministry of Finance to register our protest and to submit the petition but the police would have none of that. So we got to the Ministry but were denied access to the main compound amidst an unwavering resistance from us. We spent some THREE HOURS in despair at the entrance and surprisingly, no official from the Ministry felt the need to step out from their office to receive the petition despite the charged atmosphere that our presence had occasioned. The Deputy Finance Minister for instance, claims that his outfit has no dealing with GRASAG, hence his “I don’t care attitude”. This is obviously a FAT LIE because there is evidence to show that his Ministry has recently written to the association over this same bursary issue. 

I almost shed tears at this nauseating spectacle and to think that, these are the people our hard earned money and taxes are used to remunerate, accommodate and given several fringe benefits from our sweat, I get utterly crazy. These government officials are inexplicably insensible to the plight of the citizenry and do not deserve a penny from us. Fortunately, whilst we were there, unattended to, the Labour Minister, Hon Haruna Iddrisu who is also a former student leader surfaced at the scene. He was actually on his way to the Ministry of Finance and we besieged him to make our case. He promised to get back to us in five minutes, with the Deputy Finance Minister to receive the petition and to guarantee us of his return, he told his driver to pack the vehicle so he would walk to the Ministry. After waiting for sometimes, his driver, in the company of the Minister’s bodyguard attempted to move the vehicle, which was our only surety but we strongly objected to that. This culminated in a “scuffle” between us. 

The Minister’s bodyguard then removed a gun and threatened to shoot at us if anyone dared him; a development, which aggravated the tension, as some of us were ready to be killed for a cause we believed in. We were willing to sacrifice our lives and be remembered on the positive side of history and as martyrs. But for the timely intervention of the police, I’m sure the situation would have been bloodier. We have evidence to prove our claim in respect of the reprehensible conduct of the Minister’s bodyguard and I would be surprised if Hon. Haruna Iddrisu doesn’t not fire that guy. And that would give me reasons to believe that he is not a professional security capo but an ordinary party footsoldier. Well, the Minister [Haruna Iddrisu] eventually returned with the “stubborn Deputy Finance Minister” [Casely Ato Forson] to receive the petition, after we had waited for hours. Nonetheless, I commend the efforts of Hon. Haruna Iddrisu for keeping to his words despite the unusual delay.   

Before I end, I wish to unreservedly CONDEMN the unfortunate comments from Sam George, a presidential staffer and government communicator who opined that, graduate students in the country have allowed themselves to be misled to demonstrate against the government over their bursary issues. He made these comments on a current affairs programme, State of Affairs on GHOne, an Accra based TV station on Monday, 26^th of September. Are you surprised? Please don’t be ... because he happens to be one of the babies with sharp teeth (in the words of President Rawlings), whose political relevance and popularity is hinged on their ability to insult and spew gratuitous invectives at the critics of the government. He sees vanity and pomposity as a virtue and humility as a scares commodity. Else, how could Sam George of yesterday, who I understand, is even yet to start a PhD Programme, have the effrontery to insinuate that PhD and Masters Students in the country, have no mind of their own? And that, they have to be pushed before they act. How sad! Well, power they say, corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. A word to the wise is enough. 

In conclusion, I wish to make a passionate appeal to His Excellency President John Mahama to reconsider the “decision” of his government and come to the aid of our students pursuing postgraduate courses in the nation’s public universities. They deserve his sympathy. He should not only show compassion to convicted criminals like the montie gangs, or egg sellers but also, the students of Ghana and particularly graduate students who are going through a hell of a time under his administration. These students are not demanding for a rocket science from his government. All they ask for, is an opportunity that would enable them to successfully pursue their programmes of study and eventually contribute to national development. Is this too much to ask for? Mr. President, these students have had enough and I doubt they are in a position to tolerate further gimmickry. They have thus, served notice of their resolve to fight this injustice even at the peril of their lives. EDUCATION is and MUST remain a RIGHT. 

#Mutashi

#NoPartisanNonsense

#StudentsDeserveBetter

#GovernmentMustActNow

#OurCountryMustWorkAgain

Assalamu alaikum 

This piece was compiled by a concerned Ghanaian in the business of OCCUPYING HEARTS and MINDS for the love of God and country.

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

Youth Activist/Student Activist

Former NUGS Secretary

(0245335197)

Please it is shareable…

ROADMAP TO NUGS CONGRESS (2016): SEPARATING THE FACTS FROM THE FICTIONS

 

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN WRITES…

I agree that the NUGS executives have been very disappointing in relation to the organization of this year’s congress thus far and I’m not in any way going to defend them. Whilst I agree with this assertion, I also think that we ought to be fair to the facts and uphold the truths at all-times in our criticisms. In the buildup to this congress, social media platforms have been inundated with so much rumour/information, a lot of which, are either true or otherwise. Having closely monitored this development with my objective lenses, I have been able to establish the relevant facts and wish to make that known, whilst passing verdict on the actions of some of the stakeholders, based on our conventions and commonsense. 

To start with, I wish to state on record that by Convention, the organization of congress is solely the responsibility of National Officers (ie NUGS executives) and not CC nor NEC. For more insight, I refer you to the provisions in Articles 25 and 31, where all the powers of these structures have been explicitly spelt out. What usually happens over the years is that, National Officers decide on PROVISIONAL date and venue for congress and then communicate same to NEC and CC (not necessarily for approval because the Constitution does not say so)...

These dates and venues are PROVISIONAL because NUGS, as we speak, does not have its own hostel and other facilities that are required for the organization of congress BUT have to always depend on other educational institutions for their facilities. So in the light of this, it is practically impossible for the Union to determine authoritatively, where and when its congress would be held and that is commonsensical. 

So what has happened under the current circumstances? Let me proceed to answer: Indeed, pursuant to our Convention, the National Officers indeed determined possible venues and date for the 2016 congress and communicated same to CC members at Zenith University on August 31. Prior to that, the NUGS officers were indeed given assurance by the Authorities of the said institutions (ie. Akatsi College of Education as well as St. Francis and St. Theresa`s in Hohoe) of the availability of their facilities. 

Unfortunately, the academic calendar of all the Colleges of Education in the country experienced a SUDDEN CHANGE by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) which is the only University that officially runs the Diploma Programmes. The final years were asked to report a week ago for their On-Campus Teaching Practice, which was not the case at the time the arrangements were made. Initially, they were supposed to report on 3^rd October but this was suddenly changed to 12^th September. Regrettably, the executives contend that this information only got to them at the penultimate moment, hence there was very little they could do; other than to reconsider the date and venue. 

Whilst we all legitimately feel uncomfortable and disappointed in the Executives for what has happened, I think we ought to be measured in castigating them. Again, our Union is replete with similar happenings in the past even though that doesn’t justify what happened this year. As a matter of fact, only last year, when I was in office as the NUGS General Secretary, we, as National Officers decided to hold our congress at Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong after the College Authorities gave us approval. We then proceeded to inform NEC and CC about it, followed by the issuance of invitation letters. 

However, these same Authorities disappointed us at the eleventh hour citing some inexplicable reasons. So we had to quickly reorganize ourselves to look for an alternative venue, which happened to be Okuapeman SHS, also in the same town and apologized to the SRCs for the inconveniences occasioned. Giving the limited timeframe, there was no way we could have organized CC meeting to inform members of it. So we issued a new invitation letters to the SRC/LNUGS Executives communicating the said variations in the initial plans. 

This is certainly what the current executives have not been able to do and I fault them for that. These are the facts and nothing but the facts. I am not sure these facts suggest that a particular NUGS executive doesn’t want this congress to come off as being speculated in certain quarters. Well, we live in a democratic society and everybody is free to say whatever they like BUT we must all know that ultimately, our conscience shall forever be our judge. END OF STORY… 

Having said that, it is my hope and prayer that the Executives are able to sort out these issues as early as possible in order to pave way for a smooth congress. The students of Ghana deserve better. NUGS must not and will not die INSHA ALLAH. Let’s all get involved in building a strong Union that can stand the test of time. The NUGS Judicial Board should be happy I have been able to resist the temptation of replying them over their recent release but they may not be lucky next time. My name is Iddi Muhayu-Deen and I’m bold to say that I authored this write-up. I won’t hide behind anonymity to malign people as others do without shame.

    

Assalamu alaikum

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Once again, this piece was compiled by a concerned student activist in the business of OCCUPYING HEARTS and MINDS for the love of God and country.

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

Student/Youth Activist

Former NUGS Secretary

(0245335197)

Please it is shareable…

LET’S STOP THE ROMANTICIZATION OF STATE INSTITUTIONS ON THE ALTAR OF RESPECTING THEIR SO CALLED INDEPENDENCE (THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION IN PERSPECTIVE)

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN’S FOLDER

There is no denying the fact that the success of a democratic nation, to a large extent, is contingent on the availability of strong and efficacious State Institutions that command respect from her citizenry. Indeed, President Barrack Obama was completely spot on with his profound admonition to the citizens of African countries and Ghana in particular, to focus on building strong institutions rather than strong men in such institutions in order to consolidate our democratic gains and chart a path of growth and posterity. Our very constitution also enjoins us to respect these Institutions of State. But of course, in doing so, it is equally very instructive to note that the same constitution reposes responsibilities in these institutions.

They are supposed to discharge their responsibilities in accordance with law and not behave like the proverbial octopus as if they are a law onto themselves. They are thus, supposed to be accountable to you and I, in whose supreme interest and authority, they exist. The difficulty for most of us however, has been where to draw the line between holding these State Institutions accountable and also respecting their independence. A lot of people especially political zealots tend to mischievously construe the latter as an ABSOLUTE whilst seeing the former as an ATTACK on these institutions and thus, making same problematic and unconstitutional.

This development, I find, rather disingenuous and counterproductive to our democratic experiment. The most nauseating part of this narrative is the manifest HYPOCRISY of our politicians especially the elite, who ought to know better. But of course, these politicians would always justify everything including calling black, white and the vice versa if it came from their own BUT see everything wrong with the actions or utterances of their political opponents. It is even more worrying to note that the so called “nonpoliticians” are as guilty as the politicians in this ugly enterprise, making same a national canker. That is the bane of this country and until we embrace a new paradigm for love of God and country, we shall all continue to wallow in this abyss.

For the purpose of this write-up, I wish to zero in on our Electoral Commission, which is undoubtedly, one of the State Institutions that has lately been in the news for various acts of omissions and commissions. You would recall how the EC threw caution to the wind in their belligerent insistence to proceed with the organization of the district assembly elections in 2015 without regard to the necessary legal regime until a fisherman went to court to stop them. This resulted in a huge financial loss to the Ghanaian taxpayer (over ¢300 million). The EC is not independent nor sacrosanct after all. A lot of us thought that the appointment of a new EC Boss, Madam Charlotte Osei was going to restore confidence in the commission and better its lot but rather regrettably, the reverse happens to be the case.

Again, the recent brouhaha that characterized the call for the compilation of a "new" credible voters register for the 2016 general elections and the handling of same exposes the incompetence and foolhardiness of the EC under Charlotte Osei. It would be recalled that when some leading political parties including the NPP, CPP, NDP et al made a strong case for the compilation of a new credible register, the EC set up a five - member Panel to, inter alia, organize a forum with the view to collating views from all stakeholders in order to advise the commission on the way forward in relation to the new register debate. Surprisingly, even before the committee could finish their work, Charlotte Osei appeared before them (at the forum) and stated quite succinctly that, the EC wasn't ready to compile a new register because it wasn't feasible and proceeded to add that, the EC was not under any obligation to accept the Panel's recommendations anyway.

By this, she was essentially preempting the committee's work and telling the whole world that the exercise was a useless venture because they (the EC) had already concluded on what to do and nothing could change their mind. So, if the EC knew this, why did they waste our time and resources in appointing the Panel and in the organization of the forum? It is not surprising that the EC never worked with the recommendations of the eminent Panel despite the huge money pumped into their work. If this is not a classic case of causing financial loss to the State, I wonder what else it is. Again, tell me the EC didn’t lie to the Supreme Court with the claim that our voters register had only 56,722 NHIS registrants out of the over 11 million voter population and I will call you a very dishonest person.

Also, at the heat of the uncertainty regarding the voters register, the leadership of the EC surprisingly, rather chose to concern themselves with an obsession to get a NEW LOGO for the Electoral Commission as if that was the panacea to our electoral woes. Mind you, aside the fact that the new logo comes at a huge cost to the poor taxpayer, the logo, which has justifiably incurred the wrath of journalists and all well-meaning Ghanaians, doesn't bear any of our national emblems; not even our famous Coat of Arm. There were also claims that it was a plagiarized symbol of a certain University in Turkey. How shameful! Well, this is exactly what happens when we over pamper our State Institutions in the name of respecting their so called independence.

In the nutshell, the Electoral Commission of Ghana, under the leadership of Madam Charlotte Osei has metamorphosed from an Election Governing Body to become not only a belligerent and stubborn State Institution, but also a money making institution or business entity. First, it went through rebranding, then the design of a new logo, then benchmarking and then development of a medium to long-term strategic plan. Now, we are talking about some outrageous fees being charged by the Commission as Filing Fees for our prospective Parliamentary and Presidential Candidates. This is in clear contravention of Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana; which EXCLUDES monetary consideration as a qualification criterion for aspiring candidates in our general elections.

For instance, whilst the Filing Fees for the 2016 presidential candidates shot up by some 500% (ie. from Gh¢10,000.00 to Gh¢50,000.00) from the 2012 figure, that of the parliamentary candidates has miraculously been increased by a whopping 1000% (ie. from Gh¢1,000.00 to Gh¢10,000.00). How do they expect a fresh graduate like me, to raise this kind of money? And why should that prevent me from aspiring to serve my constituents in Kete-Krachi as their MP when the constitution clearly permits me? Is the EC rewriting the constitution of Ghana? Must someone go to court again to compel the EC to work with commonsense under the circumstances?

Meanwhile, the entire budget and activities of the Commission are still funded by the Ghanaian taxpayer as well as donors. So what at all is the EC going to use these monies (IGF or whatever) for? No wonder their PRO, himself, couldn’t answer this question when it was posed to him by a journalist (Richard Sky of citi fm) and said he would have to ask the EC’s Accounts Department and revert. Enough is enough! The romanticization of these State Institutions especially the EC must STOP. Let’s all rise up and demand accountability from them NOW for the love of God and country. And our action should not misconstrued by friends of the governing party in particular, to mean interference in the Commission’s work.

#Mutashi

Assalamu alaikum

This piece was compiled by a concerned Ghanaian in the business of OCCUPYING HEARTS and MINDS for the love of God and country.

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN

Youth Activist/Social Commentator

Former NUGS Secretary
(0245335197)

Please it is shareable…