Notorious facts

I agree, to an extent, with the critics of the recently launched free senior high school (SHS). This creature, a campaign promise of the government when it was in the opposition, has no business in succeeding.

At some point in 2016, the original budget of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for goods and services was revised downward from GH¢626 million to GH¢574 million. The actual spend that was made available to the GES was GH¢468,000. This notorious fact is embedded in the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) for the financial year ended December 31, 2016.

The shortfall of GH¢ 573,947,567 accounts in part for non-payment for trivialities such as the school feeding programme. The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, is reported to have said recently that all legacy debts of feeding grants for schools in the Northern Region for the third term of the 2015/16 academic year have now been settled. According to the minister, arrears from the first term of the 2016/17 academic year have also been settled. Dr Opoku Prempeh has threatened to turn his attention to paying up for the second and third terms of 2016/2017.

Imagine that. Paying inherited bills within nine months is un-Ghanaian. The implementation of the free SHS, with implications of increased enrolment, requires that a 20 per cent disbursement of funds be made before schools reopen shortly. There are nine other regions to consider. How much fiscal space and energy is there to clean up and forge ahead by ensuring that all Ghanaian children who can attain the required grades are provided with the opportunity to get the quality education needed to make informed decisions?

Those nurses, farmers and teachers were right. Teaching hospitals, tertiary education, Ministry of Health headquarters, Crop Services Department, Parliamentary Committees, Highway Authority, Department of Urban Roads, Ghana AIDS Commission, the Ghana Tourist Board, the Audit Service itself, the Ghana Meteorological Services and the Psychiatry hospitals in descending order of all these forward facing departments and agencies, even after their original budgets had been further revised downwards, reported substantial shortfalls in the actual amounts of money given to them to deliver services.

The Auditor General (AG), Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo, is a model of understatement. Summarising his findings on the MDAs, he states: 'The budget as required is to be formulated based on realistic assumptions and analysis in terms of expected performance. In my opinion, this wide variation observed increases the visibility of the unrealistic nature of releases in respect of goods and services'. The AG urges: 'The development of a more realistic budget accompanied with realistic releases.'

I barely remember dumsor. The unlamented energy crises resulted in a downturn of business and thus below par revenue collection. Add to this dark mess a fall in the international prices of our major exports, a high wage bill and crippling interests from debts incurred from wanton borrowing. This was the toxic recipe that required hard choices.

Tamale is the capital of the Northern Region. It is much easier to take a walk there - fortuitously nowhere close to any of the school's whose school feeding grants were left hanging - and pronounce on what it is that he did not achieve. The reality is that this government has acquired 'peek a boo' debts and a mountain of cynicism that it must upscale. Tell us the hard truths and actually, get on with it.

Per the Media Ownership Monitor Ghana (MOMG), Metro Television, a private channel established in 1997, is now accessible nationwide. The station broadcasts mostly in English, its programme content is summarised as 30 per cent news, 40 per cent entertainment and 30 per cent sports.

Recently, two editions of Good Evening Ghana, hosted by Paul Adom Otchere, have generated questions. Was it news, did it pass muster as entertainment, or was it a simplistic sport of people baiting?
Aeons ago, when the host was away receiving an education much higher than free SHS, I co-hosted Good Evening Ghana. I didn't watch the programme when I was co-hosting, it was broadcast live. I have not watched the show since. No reason to break good habits. If you insist on that sort of thing, clips are available online for your sampling pleasure.

Metro TV was/is owned by Talal and Fadi Fatal - they retain 36 and 15 per cent shareholding, respectively. Kingdom Business Link Ventures (there is no further information online about them), holds the remaining shares. There is also speculation, not denied so far, that the Jospong Group, a veritable 'national asset', has recently acquired a substantial shareholding in the television station. Why ever not?
Representatives of Jospong have also recently been 'invited' by the Ghana Police Service to explain themselves and the circumstances surrounding a number of public contracts they received, including the supply of refuse bins. Reduce, reuse, recycle. The notorious facts, such as they are, must emerge.

Does it matter who owns the media and who their associates are? Yes. Does it matter who manages the media, and what their editorial policy is? Yes. Suitably armed, one can then make an informed decision on whether to write a column; purchase the paper; subscribe online; advertise; switch on; or not.