Food Distribution Corporation to be divested
Members of Parliament divided on language policy in Education
Accra (Greater Accra) 04 July 2002- The Government has decided to put the Ghana Food Distribution Corporation under divestiture due to mismanagement and undue interference by the past regime in the affairs of the corporation.
As at 31 August 2001, the corporation was indebted to some government and financial institutions to the tune of about 13.5 billion cedis, while staff salary arrears stood at about 2.8 billion cedis during the same period. Dr Mathew K. Antwi, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture (MOFA) said this in answer to a supplementary question as to government's next plan of action on the corporation.
The deputy minister was in Parliament on Wednesday to answer a question by Dr Yaw Brempong Yeboah, NPP-Atiwa as to the current status of the GFDC in the food distribution chain and whether the corporation was still in the business of food distribution.
Dr Antwi said the indebtedness and mismanagement of the corporation made it no longer viable in the food distribution chain. He said the Corporation was established in 1971 to ensure ready, regular and stable market to farmers and producers as an incentive to increase production, however, these laudable objectives could not be realised due to the poor performance of the corporation resulting in serious financial crisis.
Mr Kwakye Addo, NDC- Afram Plains South asked what accounted for the poor performance of the Corporation and the minister said it was due to mismanagement and interference by previous governments in the affairs of the corporation.
Mr Joseph Darko-Mensah, NPP-Okaikwei North asked what immediate plans the ministry had to salvage the Corporation's abandoned large fleet of vehicles and the minister said since they were all assets they would be included in the divestiture plan.
Mr Harry Halifax-Hayford, NDC- Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese asked when salary arrears of the workers would be paid and the minister said it would be part of the divestiture plan.
Mr Brandford K. Adu, NPP-Okere, asked what security measures the ministry was taking to protect the Corporation's property before the divestiture and the minister said an acting Managing Directors had been appointed to ensure that the assets were fully protected.
Mr Francis Osei-Sarfo, NDC-Krachi asked what the ministry's plan were towards the abandoned multi-million dollar silos in his constitu3ncy and the minister said they would form part of a partial divestiture of the facilities since some of them were to be used for the government's food security programme.
Dr Mustapha Ahmed, NDC-Ayawaso East asked what plans the ministry had to ensure that the business of food distribution did not collapse and the minister said the government was presently using some of the facilities of the corporation for the storage of its maize reserves.
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Members of Parliament divided on language
policy in Education
Accra (Greater Accra) 04 July 2002- Members of Parliament on Tuesday expressed varied opinions on the use of English as the only medium of instruction in basic schools. Mr Albert Abongo, NDC-Bongo, had whipped up interest in the issue when he read a statement calling for the reconsideration of government's new directive to freeze the use of Ghanaian Languages as the medium of instruction for basic classes one to three.
He said government had rushed in taking the decision since its own special committee set up to review the educational reforms was yet to conclude its findings. The member said he did not accept government's reason for the directive that it would improve the pupils' level of comprehension of the English Language and the child's performance in other subjects.
"How does Cabinet expect the poor class one pupil in my village school already bedevilled with several other problems to comprehend any subject matter in English. The situation is not different for the urban under-privileged."
He said children attained the cognitive maturity and the conceptual development that took place as pupils learn in the first language and that it later enhances acquisition of English. "In addition, initial acquisition of literary skills in the first language facilitates the learning of English reading and writing."
Captain Nkrabeah Effa Dartey (retired), Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said since English was the Lingua Franca of the country every child must learn how to read and write English.
He said use of Local Languages in most of Ghanaian schools had rendered even university students incapable of expressing themselves in English. "The member is inviting us to go backward. It is very sad. The House must applaud the Cabinet's decision."
Prof Dominic Fobih, Minister of Environment and Science, said the new policy was not a snub of the local languages but rather preparing the ground for the eventual use of Local Languages at the basic level.
He said most teachers were not conversant with the methodology of Local Languages saying that though the original idea was perfect, it would be wishful thinking to believe that it could be implemented.
Mr Johnson Aseidu Nkestia, NDC-Wenchi West, said the use of English would ensure national integration. He said even if Ghanaian Languages were used as medium of instruction, those who had minority tongues would still have to acquire the languages of the majority.
He proposed the use of French along English so that Ghanaians would be able to communicate better with their French-speaking neighbours. Ms Christine Churcher, Minister in-charge of Basic, Secondary and Girl-Child Education said the new policy would erase widening disparity between the rural poor and the urban rich.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 July 2002- Members of Parliament surveyed each other as they were asked: "How many of you have children attending public schools."
Ms Christine Churcher, who asked the question when defending the government's decision to use English Language as a medium of instruction in basic schools said, "you do not know the gravity of the situation." If her question was to embarrass those, who opposed the directive, Alhaji Amadu Ali's, NDC-Attebubu South, question to Professor Fobih, Minister of Environment and Science was more intriguing.
"Prof, when we were in school your Faculty members taught us to teach the child from the known to the unknown. How do you reconcile that with your position?" Prof Fobih, a former Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Cape Coast also skipped the question as he argued for the new policy.
Members were debating the Government’s policy of using English as the medium of instructions in basic schools as against the previous policy which states that the child should be instructed in the language of the area he or she is schooling in the first three years in basic school.
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