Why the Rawlings are educated overseas

This story by Paa Kwesi Plange appeared in the June 23rd edition of the Ghanaian Chronicle

The First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings says the First Family took their two daughters, Ezanetor and Amina to schools abroad because their Ghanaian teachers spent most of their lecture times insulting their father.

Speaking on an Accra Radio Station, Vibe FM last week, she said concerned friends appalled by the experience the children were being subjected to voluntarily shopped for schools for them at their own cost. She however did not disclose the names of the friends and countries they reside in. "It is true that the two of them are out of the country, but it is for these very reasons that friends abroad said, "look we have found schools for them, bring them, we will take care of them. Why should it be so? I kept the oldest one here for the two years that the universities were on strike. We said you must at least do your first degree here."

" We have to do this because here in Ghana, you have people who are teaching them who will spend thirty minutes insulting their father before they teach. How can any child study? It is not possible," Mrs Rawlings stated. It will be recalled that the government came under an avalanche of criticism when the news of their children schooling abroad broke some years ago, especially at a time the educational system had gone belly up as a result of reforms introduced by their father in 1985. Many observers also slammed the reforms due to the lack of consultation that characterised its implementation. The oldest daughter, Ezanetor - the first to leave - is currently in her sophomore year in a university in Ireland.

Mrs Rawlings also spoke on what she termed the "bashing" the first family has received from the media. She blamed it on people she referred to as "sick minds" who, she said, are finding it difficult measuring up to the high standards her husband has set since he burst on the Ghanaian political scene. These people, she said, had colluded with the media to "churn out insults, lies, mudslinging, denigration and degradation" about her family with the intention of trying to put down people who, she said, are working tirelessly to place the nation on a higher pedestal. "When I hear people insulting him... I know that he is not like that. It is a painful act. Unfortunately, I think part of the problem as I analyse it is that he has set a certain standard that people are going to have a problem equalising and to be able to move into that position they should bring him down to a certain level. It is unfortunate and really sometimes I think it is coming from sick minds!" She stated.

The First Lady attributed her husband's afflictions at the hands of the media to his popularity with the ordinary people, which she said his detractors are not happy about, hence the campaign to discredit him.

Mrs Rawlings, who has been described by her opponents as vindictive and unforgiving, however conceded that her husband was more open to people than she was, stressing that "I distrust till I can trust, while he trusts until you give him cause to distrust you. His popularity with the people I think annoys some people, but it is not his fault if he is able to deal with the lowest and the highest levels. It is not his fault. That is the way he is. I am sorry he can't help that, because he has a way of dealing with people. Once you meet him, you know that the rapport you have with him is such that he opens himself up more than I do," she underlined. Mrs Rawlings, who spoke on women empowerment, forcefully asserted that no government in the history of the nation, whether military or civilian, could match the level of transparency, honesty and integrity President Rawlings has exhibited since he assumed the reins of power.

"Apart from putting himself to a certain level he is a very honest person. I live with him and his level of transparency, I think, has not been equalled by any other government, be it military or civilian in this country or in many parts of the world especially Africa," she stressed.

Mrs Rawlings said that contrary to some press reports, which have portrayed her husband in the negative light, his rating outside the country especially from interactions with foreign dignitaries in their travels abroad is "quite high. The whole world rates him high, so when they read some of these things on the internet they ask whether these people are sane at all, because they tell us that even though they are outside the country, they know exactly what is going on here," she stated.