Ghana: Independent Prosecutor and Free Education
September 12 2017 By Abiodun Giwa
President Akufo Addo launching the free SHS program
Many Ghanaians would want to see their independent prosecutor not answerable to anyone, to ensure that he is actually independent. But the Chairman of the Constitution, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Ben Abdalla Bandah, has said the holder of about to be created office should not be expected to be independent.
Bandah said in a news report by Ghanaweb that no institution or person in the country is independent, including the president. It is envisaged that a special prosecutor will be answerable to the attorney general, but that attorney should have no power to fire the special prosecutor.
Just as one is sensing that Ghana is borrowing a system or wants to emulate the good justice system in the United States, the news about the launching of the country's free senior high education, SHS, comes into focus.
So soon after the launching by President Akufo-Addo, some parents said that they are being extorted to pay between 10 to c30 or risk loss of registration of their children. Some parents also said that apart from what they consider as extortions by school heads, supplies they buy for their children is higher in price compared to what government has absorbed under the programme, according to Ghanaweb.
Based on experience in several African countries, it is rare for the so called free education to be entirely free, because parents are still expected to play certain roles that completely removes the tag 'free' attached to the education program. It is why observers often see such programs as voting catching gimmicks.
Of course, President Akufo mentioned what he said critics have been saying about the program as vote catching gimmick as he launched the program. But he assured Ghanaians that there will be a difference in the free senior high school education program being undertaken by his government.
The newly launched free education program is already being envisaged as foundation for a new Ghanaian economy and that its success will leave the opposition out in the weather for 34 years. .
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Bandah said in a news report by Ghanaweb that no institution or person in the country is independent, including the president. It is envisaged that a special prosecutor will be answerable to the attorney general, but that attorney should have no power to fire the special prosecutor.
Just as one is sensing that Ghana is borrowing a system or wants to emulate the good justice system in the United States, the news about the launching of the country's free senior high education, SHS, comes into focus.
So soon after the launching by President Akufo-Addo, some parents said that they are being extorted to pay between 10 to c30 or risk loss of registration of their children. Some parents also said that apart from what they consider as extortions by school heads, supplies they buy for their children is higher in price compared to what government has absorbed under the programme, according to Ghanaweb.
Based on experience in several African countries, it is rare for the so called free education to be entirely free, because parents are still expected to play certain roles that completely removes the tag 'free' attached to the education program. It is why observers often see such programs as voting catching gimmicks.
Of course, President Akufo mentioned what he said critics have been saying about the program as vote catching gimmick as he launched the program. But he assured Ghanaians that there will be a difference in the free senior high school education program being undertaken by his government.
The newly launched free education program is already being envisaged as foundation for a new Ghanaian economy and that its success will leave the opposition out in the weather for 34 years. .
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