Editorial: Nduom deserves commendation

The spirit of self-help and philanthropy seems to be waning in our society in recent times. 

The factors may be varied, with economic difficulties as the main excuse. But, as a nation, we cannot look on unconcerned while the spirit of self-help dies completely from our society.

In the rural communities in particular, where we expect this noble gesture to be on display most of the time because of the communal value of being one another’s keeper, self-help is rather in rapid decline. 

It is common to see bad roads in our communities, especially at suburbs with mansions where the rich or well-to-do live, but the rich will not contribute to fix the roads. 

Strangely, many of the rich in our society hardly support the weak and the poor to lead a semblance of comfortable lives.

We all tend to expect the government to do all the things necessary for our well-being. When this is not done, we heap insults on the government and accuse it of not caring for our needs.

It is, however, refreshing that the spirit of philanthropy and self-help is all not lost yet. There may be exceptions, and one such philanthropist is Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the President of Groupe Nduom Foundation and 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).

Dr Nduom, a member of the 1971 Year Group of the St Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, made a pledge to build and furnish a dormitory to accommodate 120 students at the 83rd Speech and Prize-giving Day of the school.  

The facility was inaugurated on October 11, 2014 and the Daily Graphic carried the story in its Monday, October 13, 2014 edition. 

This is not the first time Dr Nduom is promoting the need to educate all Ghanaian children. He has built a number of libraries in some communities in the Central Region and recently he built a community centre at Otuam named after the late President J.E.A. Mills.

Although the framers of our Constitution got it right when they mandated our governments to provide free compulsory basic education in Ghana, governments alone cannot make this happen, as it needs collaborative and concerted efforts by all stakeholders.

That is why Dr Nduom’s gesture of not only redeeming his pledge, but also going to the aid of his alma mater, as well as helping to enhance education in the country, needs to be commended.

We know that he executed the project for his former school and the gesture is worth emulating by all well-to-do citizens of our land.

For, after all, most of the people in responsible positions today attended secondary schools, most of which are in deplorable conditions because the government alone cannot provide for the needs of the schools.

It is regrettable that many of the rich in our society often make pledges on the spur of the moment to support various development projects but hardly honour those pledges. 

This is very evident during fund-raising activities in churches and at festivals in our towns and villages to raise money for development programmes.

The Daily Graphic would like to encourage the spirit of self-help and voluntarism in nation building. This is, for us, one of the key steps needed to improve the living standards of all Ghanaians, particularly the weak and the poor.

Once again the Daily Graphic commends Dr Nduom and his Groupe Nduom Foundation for a job well done in supporting worthy causes in the communities.

But, like Oliver Twist, we ask him to do more if he has the means.