Ajoa Yeboah-Afari: A look at two actions of courage

I guess Matilda Amissah-Arthur, wife of the Vice-President, was hoping that the apology she gave for her outburst at Kukurantumi last week would end the matter. Well, not quite, Madam, as ensuing developments have shown.

For my part, I’m dedicating this week’s column to Mrs Amissah-Arthur and an unnamed teenager at Adidome, Central Tongu District. As reported in The Spectator of July 4, the girl suddenly went into labour during the rewrite of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and was rushed to hospital but returned hours later, after delivering a baby boy, to continue writing the exam.

To my mind, both demonstrated memorable courage for their actions and deserve praise.

The Spectator said it would not disclose the identity of the 15 year-old girl “for obvious reasons”. It was when the first BECE paper commenced that she went into labour.
District Chief Executive (DCE), Mary Agbenyenu said “we were all worried about her well-being and never expected her to have the courage and will to come back to the centre with a pen in hand to continue the examination, but she proved us all wrong.”

The teenager left her baby in the care of the nurses at the hospital and rushed to the examination hall to finish her papers “with a smile on her face.” The DCE added: “For us, this is victory for her and we were all touched by her heroic stance not to let anything stop her in her quest for education.” She said everyone there was surprised by the girl’s “rare display of courage”.

Ms Agbenyenu promised that the District Assembly would support the girl to continue her education, even if the exam results turned out to be unfavourable, the Spectator reported.

I, too, was impressed by the unnamed teenager’s amazing stance and to me it’s a great pity that the paper didn’t reveal her identity. Apparently that was to protect her from possible ridicule. However, to me, her bravery and determination turned an otherwise shameful situation into a triumph. And one wonders about the father of the baby.

Like the DCE, I appreciate the teenager’s focused attitude. I think she deserves assistance to achieve her educational ambition, so I hope that this progressive DCE will honour her promise that the District Assembly will give this feisty girl all the help she needs.

Secondly, my admiration goes to Mrs Amissah-Arthur, a political personality even if not a politician, for displaying a similar rare courage, in her case to say the three little words that Ghanaian politicians and office holders find so difficult to say: I am sorry.

To borrow a Biblical imagery, getting a camel to go through the eye of a needle is probably easier than getting them to say those three little words when they do or say something that offends or is wrong.

Mrs Amissah-Arthur reportedly flew into an inexplicable rage at a school function at Kukurantumi, Eastern Region. She had gone to the Presbyterian Primary School there to donate some computers for the establishment of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centre. Then in her welcome remarks, the headmistress, Juliet Oppong, requested Mrs Amissah-Arthur to kindly pass on a message to the Government.

Mrs Oppong’s message was simply that the school was in dire need of basic educational materials, such as chalk, exercise books, pencils and registers. Mrs Oppong backed her request with a humorous, common saying that when one wants to say something to God, one says it to the wind.

Incidentally, the Daily Guide report added that its information was that the school also has no toilet and both pupils and staff have to rely on that of a private institution on the same compound.

Evidently Mrs Amissah-Arthur took exception to the request and reportedly retorted, among other things: “I won’t give you the chalk; I won’t give you the chalk today or tomorrow. Your teachers and the (parent-teacher associations) should go and buy it.... a box of chalk is not expensive.

“(The) Government has been giving all these materials but not all the schools get them. That is why we have PTAs so that they also ...do the rest..... I think you have been spoilt. “We have given you school uniforms so now parents don’t even want to buy clothes for the children ....”
Not surprisingly, this drew strong protests from the teacher unions, and attracted general condemnation.

Well, maybe Mrs Amissah-Arthur got out of the wrong side of her bed that morning. We all have our bad days! Nevertheless, if she believes that Ghanaians are being pampered by the Government, she needs to take a good look around her.

Fortunately, last Saturday, speaking at another school function, this time in Accra, Mrs Amissah-Arthur apologised for her remarks at Kukurantumi, saying “I am very sorry”. Her apology was greeted with thunderous applause by the gathering.

From the radio sound bite her apology sounded somewhat grudging. Nevertheless, an apology is an apology and I salute her for that. One hopes that others will follow her example when the need arises.

Interestingly, a number of people stepped in to assist the school with boxes of chalk. They included, as the Guide of Saturday, July 18 reported, representatives of both the ruling National Democratic Congress and the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party, as well as private individuals.

One other issue is, while donations of computers and the establishment of ICT centres are very good initiatives, what about the basics? Shouldn’t the Government be ensuring that schools’ basic needs, including toilets, are fulfilled first before making them high-tech?

I also wonder why news of the brave Adidome girl has not made more waves. Anyway, her plight brings into focus once again the problem of the reported rising incidence of teenage pregnancy all over the country. What has happened to the Family Life Education programme in schools?

Again, I congratulate both the Adidome teenage mother and Mrs Amissah-Arthur for their exemplary courage.

Finally, Madam, now that you have also been made aware that the Kukurantumi Presby School has no toilet, may I suggest that to complement your apology you assist the school to build one, although the headmistress left that out of her list?

(ajoayoahafari@yahoo.com)