<<Print>>

Members of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) were disappointed following the failure of the Deputy Minister of Education to attend the opening session of their 15th annual delegates� congress, currently underway in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital. Mr. Ayariga assured the association that he would attend the opening session of the five-day congress, which is under the theme, �Teacher motivation; A prerequisite for quality education in Ghana.� This was after the leadership of the association had sent a letter of invitation to the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku three weeks before the congress. Knowing the tight schedule of ministers of state, the association continuously reminded Mr. Ayariga of his invitation as guest of honour. The President of the Association, Kwame Nkrumah, who expressed disappointment at the failure of Mr. Ayariga to turn up, said the deputy education minister promised to attend the event and that the speeches and details of the congress were immediately given to them. They spent money to prepare a plaque for Mr. Ayariga for his contribution towards the passage of the tertiary education bill because they were convinced that the former deputy director of communications at the presidency was going to be in their midst. According to the president, when they called Mr. Ayariga in the morning of the programme he told them that he was on his way to the airport to emplane to Kumasi for the programme. The president said after several hours of waiting, they decided to call him again and Mr. Ayariga told them that he had rushed to attend an emergency meeting. Mr. Nkrumah pointed out that Mr. Ayariga did not treat them fairly because he ought to have informed them about the development and delegate somebody to represent him if indeed he rushed to attend an emergency meeting. He emphasized that they were unable to present their concerns to him for onward transmission to government because of the failure of the deputy minister to turn up for the programme. �We have spent money to prepare this plague to be given to Mr. Ayariga and now that he is not here what do we do with the plague,� the disillusioned President asked rhetorically. Mr. Nkrumah said the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Kwaku Agyeman Mensah also failed to grace the occasion. According to him, they equally invited the regional minister to grace the occasion and though the regional minister gracefully accepted the invitation he also failed to show up. He noted that the regional minister also assured them but when they called to remind him in the morning, they were told that the minister was busy and that somebody will be asked to represent him. The President indicated that what hurted them the most was the fact that the regional minister failed to assign somebody to represent him. Mr. Nkrumah revealed that it was a grand agenda by the government to shun their congress to deny them of the opportunity to express their concerns.