The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party has taken a strong exception to comments by celebrated Ghanaian journalist Manasseh Azure, to the effect that “any idiot can use our money to pay school fees for SHS students”.
Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako explains to Peacefmonline.com that his anger at Manasseh Azure is borne out of the spin and disrespect he put on the free Senior High School (SHS) policy being implemented by the Akufo-Addo led government.
In a post by Manasseh Azure, he stated that :
Some NPP activists say my comments on the Akufo-Addo government are baseless. They are not! In November 2016, I wrote an article in which I said any idiot could use our money to build infrastructure and boast about that. I did not see what Mahama had done as exceptional.
In the same way, any idiot can use our money to pay school fees for SHS students. One does not need to be a genius to do that. The opportunity cost of John Mahama’s infrastructure could have been the payment of fees. It’s just a matter of priority. My argument was, and still is, that there’s more to leadership than using the tax payer’s money to do things and boast.
The main problem with our country and continent is wastage resulting from greed and corruption. And that’s why I was hopeful that an “incorruptible” and “no-nonsense” Akufo-Addo was the Messiah Ghanaians needed in the post-Mahama era to restore hope and decency into our national life.
That’s why after two and a half years into Akufo-Addo’s presidency, I hold the view that we bought nicely packaged key soap at Circle, thinking it was a smartphone.
In responding to the opinion piece, the NPP Chairman popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, noted that he respects and appreciates the work of Manasseh but believes he has thrown his thinking cap into the deep ocean.
He added that lately, the journalist speaks like there is kerosene in his head and this has affected the output of everything he records, says or writes.
Chairman Wontumi noted that the decision by the celebrated journalist to throw dirty shade at the current government for implementing a flagship program like free SHS, was unnecessary.
In his view, the unnecessary attention Manasseh is courting for himself is rather fading away the little glory he has left in the media.
“I want to believe Manasseh has the poor who can’t pay fees at the Secondary level at heart. His thoughts are getting weird and he speaks like he has got kerosene in his head, nothing sensible is coming from him, he should watch it”, Chairman Wontumi advised.
In making good his resolve to ensure accessible, equitable, quality and life-changing education for every Ghanaian child, President Akufo-Addo officially launched the Free Senior High School Policy.
During the launch the President stated that “Today, we throw open the doors of opportunity and hope to our young people… We have a sacred duty to our children and the generations beyond in ensuring that, irrespective of their circumstances, their right to education is preserved,” the President said to an ecstatic crowd at the West Africa Senior High School premises at Adenta, near Accra.
“I want every Ghanaian child to attend secondary school not just for what they learn in books, but for the life experiences that they will gain. I want each of them to look in the mirror in the morning, every morning, and know that they can achieve anything they dream of when they complete their studies.
“I want them to be confident that what they study is relevant to the demands of today, and of tomorrow. I want every Ghanaian child to be comfortable in the knowledge that, when they work hard, they will be as capable as anyone else in the world. And I want parents to look upon their children with pride, as they watch them mature into self-confident adults”.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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I guess you also speak through your ***barred word***!
You so called educated elites are failing this country. Biko and others justify what Manasseh wrote and suggested that Manasseh used prose. I think Manasseh used poor choice of words. A Journalist writing must be comprehensible to his Audience and Chairman Wontumi is one of them. In any case, it is genius for Nana Addo to identify some priorities that resonate with Ghanaians and they voted for him. Manasseh should not insult us (Ghanaians.If he wants to be a president, he should stand for president and let us see his priorities. He is too know and it is not good for him. He should be shrewd in his judgement he wants to succeed as investigative journalist. He should learn from Anas. An investigative journalist should not express his personal opinion about political parties and presidents otherwise he is perceived as bias. That is my advice
It is also true that any 1diot can write and insult others and call himself a "celebrated journalist". I guess Nkrumah was one of the Manasseh classified "1diots" so he used our tax monies to fund free education for the northers, where the Frafra Azure belong. If Nkrumah was an 1diot like Manasseh is suggesting, he wouldn't be doing journalism now. Perhaps, he will follow in his fathers trade as a watchman or be pounding fufu. This should tell Manasseh that 1diots CANNOT perceive the importance of education, as Nkrumah did for the north so he should take grow up and get wiser. Education is what has made many underprivileged persons better people today and not infrastructure. 1diots in journalism are the ones who fail or refuse to speak about their pastors when they're caught engaging in corrupt acts, but pursue other people with all the energy in them. Selective, fake journalist!
It is chairman wuntumis head that is filled elephant dung. He should stand well as the days of reckoning are coming. The illegal mining he and Sir John carried out in 5 forest reserves are known to some of us and he cannot hide from us. God will not look on when this dead dog remains what he thinks he is after 2020.
You guys are I.D.I.O.T.S. How can any normal person classify basic education, as non-priority, compared with infrastructure development. After all, where will be the human resources to management the infrastructure you call priority? Who are the infrastructure being developed for? So can you now realize why structures fail in the country due to miss-management?
Don't blame chairman wuntumi: the guy is a stark illiterate and totally misunderstood Manasseh's use of prose and other literary devices in his write-ups! In enlightened jurisdictions where level-headedness is a basic requirement for political office this chairman wuntumi or whatever they call him will not even get 5 seconds of airtime to say anything concerning politics and governance! For crying out loud the guy is a complete and uneducated illiterate so he does not understand anything said in English! This is a simple cr.o.o.k who just happens to have some coins which understandably got into his head. He has never said anything sensible in his utterances. If you like observe.
Your question: Irbard, you are hypocrite. You sit on air to say Mannaseh shd respect the President. You prople like you make ***barred word*** of education and the big big suits you wear making noise. Where were you when John Mahama and the Presidency was treated like trash. Didnt you hear thosr not even qualified to be JM househelps insulting him and calling him names. What did you say or do about it. To hell with you all your so called security knowledge.
Beautiful assessment of yourself, wontumi. We clap for you for now realizing that there is kerosene in your head. When I fuuull is speaking we know and when a wise person is speaking too, we know. Between you and Manasseh Azure, even a class one pupil will not find a difficulty choosing manasseh. 100 percent of those who have been claiming others are witches are the real witches.