Sarpong, Justice

"The General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Dr. Mensa Otabil has waded into the controversial debate over the free education being promised by some of the political parties ahead of the December polls.But Dr. Otabil, who is the Chancellor of the Central University College, believes "Education can never be free. Somebody is paying for it... You see when they come to you and say things like fee-free education. You are happy; take your children to school. Government is good."

"I don't believe in free education. I said pay me well my due and let me have the joy of paying my own child's school fees so that my child is not a property of the state. He's my own child and I have the dignity of a father to pay for my own child. When my child grows up I say I paid your fees."

The hypocrisy of some Ghanaians who believe in their own importance and wade into issues they have no knowledge of is becoming familiar ala Kwesi Pratt. Yes, we all know everything in this world tagged free is paid for by somebody the world around and that is why we call them social intervention. Social intervention means society wades in and pays for the services provided. To those whose lives are saved and made meaningful, those services are free because they did not pay for them but somebody somewhere pays for them for the poor to live a meaningful life.

If you go to England, they have these social services like free health care and free housing they call Council flats. Those who receive these services calls it free but these services are funded by taxes from employees pay. We have social intervention programs like that in USA called food stamps and section eight where the poor are provided monthly stipends in the form of credit card in the state of Texas where government deposit money in the card to be used solely for food purchases and we also have section eight housing where government pays for the monthly rent of indigents, those receiving these services call them free but somebody pays for them, that we all know is the truth, that is not new and Pastor Otabil is not revealing anything we don't know but those who are blessed in the form of financial rewards are supposed to help the less unfortunate ones and as a Pastor, Otabil should know this.

Now coming to Ghana, what Pastor Otabil is saying about there is nothing called free is just plain lie.

Are we not being told that basic education from kindergarten to JSS is free in Ghana by NDC?

Is NDC not telling people that it has provided free uniform for Elementary school students?

Are we not being told that NDC has been providing free test books?

Are we not being told that NDC government has been providing freee laptops to tertiary students?

Are we not being told that school feeding program has been expanded to cover more children?

Pastor Otabil, what is wrong if the rich in society pays more for the reward God has given them to educate and feed the poor? You want the government to pay more so that you can pay for your children's school fees, the government is not doing that at the moment and even if it does, we are still going to have people in society that we as human beings have to extend helping hands to elevate them from poverty. Even the richest country in the world, USA that pays workers living wages sill have poor people it has to help to make ends meet.

Where are they getting money to provide these free things? Has it been raining money like manna from heaven for NDC to fund their free things? It's just plain lunacy when people equate free for inferior. Is NDC telling us that basic education from Kindergaten to JSS is inferior because it is free? Then let cut free education from our system if we start providing inferior education from the basic level and expect to get superior education later from our children, it doesn't work that way and even the Bible says that, a house built on wrong foundation cannot stand. If free education for secondary school students will become inferior because it is free, then free basic education as we know it in Ghana is inferior because it is free so lets stop it and let parents start paying school fees, buy their own testbooks and their own children school uniforms.

We have free secondary school education for the Northerners but I don't see the Northerners complaining that because their education is free, the schooling they get at Navrongo Secondary school or Lawra Secondary school is inferior to the education provided at Sunyani secondary school or Accra Academy. If free secondary school is inferior, then why are we discriminating against the Northerners by providing them free secondary school education?

President Mahama and people like Alba Bagbin, the Health Minister and Alhaji Mumuni, the Foreign Minister enjoyed enjoyed free secondary school education and I don't see them complaining of getting inferior education from the North. The free education provided to these people have made them contributing members of society so why should you deny Koo Boye from BOODIE BEBU ABO ME free education or Daavi from AKATSI to avoid TROKOSI punishment by providing her free education?

Pastor Otabil's Eureka moment that somebody pays for free things is not a new discovery. In every society, taxes are collected from everybody who is supposed to pay tax but not everybody enjoys the benefits of those taxes. Here in United staes, those people who don't have children pays for school district taxes used to fund free education and complains about it because they don't have children who benefits directly from their taxes but the benefits to them is that, by educating these children, they end up having employable skills which prevents them from becoming criminals and turning against society including those who don't have children.

Pastor Otabil is wrong when he talks about people in Ghana paying for free things through taxes. Ghana is not like otrher developed societies like Western Europe, North Ameica, Some Asians countries and Australia where the tax system is effective more than 90% of those supposed to pay taxes pays tax. In Ghana, the government collects only 14% of taxes from those supposed to pay and we don't fund our social programs from taxes from citizens. In Ghana, let's use plain language and tell the truth how government gets its revenue.

Our government cheats poor cocoa farmers by buying cocoa at cheap prices and selling them at world market making profits on the back of cocoa farmers and there is nothing wrong to share the profit with poor folks by educating their children for free. Government gets the bulk of its revenue from cocoa, gold, oil and other raw materials we export to other countries through the sweat of poor people and there is nothing wrong to spread the wealth around by educating the poorly paid workers with free education for their children.

Pastor Otabil with sprawling church compound and with church memberships in tens of thousands of people don't pay taxes from tithes and collections by the virtue of his profession as a Pastor and his church that rakes in million of dollars don't pay taxes because Churches are not taxed so he can't talk about him paying taxes to fund free education.

Nothing in this world is free but to those who don't pay for it, it is free but somebody pays those freebies and that is how citizens try to keep society in equilibrium. You can call it free or whatnot, Ghana cannot continue to have two societies where some regions enjoy free secondary school education and others are denied the same opportunity by the virtue of where one is born. How can you justify a Minister , Doctor, Lawyer or Accountant from the North educating his or her ward for free whislt a charcoal seller from the South has to pay for his or her children? Does Mahama sleeps well knowing his rich father educated 19 children for free whilst a poor farmer couldn't even educate one child in secondary school?

FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL OR FREE FOR NOBODY.

Justice Sarpong

Houston, Texas

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)