TALKING DRUM: Exams on chalkboard, new school uniform; “Awurade bɛ gye steer no!”

A teacher writes exams questions on the chalkboard

I completed Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2016, receiving an award of Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Three solid years after my completion, I have seen a number of my classmates and schoolmates getting their masters done. That’s impressive, I tell myself.

At times, I feel I should get my masters done, too. So, I have since applied to a number of foreign universities, got admissions but could not take them up because of lack of funds/scholarship. A very close friend of mine, Edward Balami, on ‘academic asylum’ in the UK, keeps sending me links to schools to apply, too. My desire sometimes to climb high the academic ladder, however, takes a downward turn like a pregnant woman’s breasts.

Frankly, it is not the lack of scholarship that kills my interest. After all, if I mean to even study here in Ghana, by hustling through the system, I can foot my bills. The reason rather stems from the thought pattern and attitude of some of our so-called leaders.

These supposed leaders, who have attended all the big universities in the world, end up with attitudes that wreck our nation. You ask yourself if those of us with a mere first degree will be able to offer constructive inputs if these leaders with ‘big’ certificates barely make any sense. Probably, these certificates are only to fatten their salaries.

Education must better the lives of the masses; anything short of this is robbery.

The other day, we heard that some basic schools across the country had their end of term examination questions written on chalkboards. Then, pictures went viral on social media in which teachers wrote questions to even cover the bare walls. I was shocked. “Are we serious!?” I quizzed.

Again to my surprise, I read a story on Starrfm.com.gh that almost quenched the flickering hope I have for our country.

“Why the dramatization? Is it because teachers were getting some money from what was being paid earlier and now they don’t get? So they are angry? Writing on the board is not a new phenomenon, how did they write their class test.  If that is the only way the poor can get education, then so be it,” the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Ekow Vincent Assafuah, was reported to have said.

Clearly, when you have such people at the helm of affairs, you realize that Chinua Achebe couldn’t have said it better― things are, indeed, falling apart! So, Vincent Assafuah vested with power as that of a tethered he-goat could speak this trash to teachers? He could ask teachers ‘how they wrote their class test’ when he knows that the world has moved on? Lord, have mercy!

As a trained teacher myself, we were taught at the teacher training college to ‘improvise’ when the need be. Nonetheless, it is totally balderdash to improvise in the classroom when there is a clear means of adequately getting the teacher resourced. Vincent Assafuah had told Starrfm.com.gh that it was the capitation grant that delayed― a stupid answer he gave.

If government knew the capitation grant would delay, why did it give an order to some heads of our basic schools not to take money from parents?

“It [not to take printing fee from parents] was a warning so we went according to what they said and we started examinations yesterday and we wrote on the chalkboard, according to their directive,” a teacher told Citinewsroom.com.

Now, the question is, why do you deliberately reject parents’ money as payment for printing fees when you know you cannot foot the bill of printing for the pupils? Our wobbling government does not think parents must be able to assist her give their children better education? Who does that?

When we thought that, perhaps, the national shame – justified by the Ministry of Education – would eventually find a resting place so we cool down our tempers, another ‘wahala’ popped up. They say it was the revision of the basic school curriculum. That’s fine, but what is contained in it?

When President Akufo Addo said at the State of the Nation Address to Parliament in February 2019 that the new curriculum will focus on making the “Ghanaian child confident, innovative, creative-thinking, digitally-literate, well-rounded and a patriotic citizen”, I said that will be marvelous. Today, however, if what we know as the key features of the new curriculum remain the same, then I would humbly withdraw my word.

I read the key features would be to reduce the number of learning areas from seven (7) to four (4) at the kindergarten, greater emphasis on literacy and numeracy at the Lower and Upper Primary and history of Ghana which was going to be compulsory for each child from Primary one to Primary six among others.

So, basically, nothing substantial was introduced. We used to learn history in school, they took it away and now it is back. As for literacy and numeracy, we have learnt them since Adam! Touting this so-called new curriculum, I expected we would be teaching our kids something that will make them smart, independent and forward-thinking so they could compete with the outside world.

I, personally, would have wished we introduced intensive ICT training, agriculture, financial intelligence and life skills [as we had in the days of old]. This, then, we could add the history of Ghana to.

You travel to Eastern, Bono, Ahafo, Bono East and Northern Regions and probably the whole of Ghana and there are vast lands. But, who is farming such? The school trains us to cap files under our armpits in search of jobs while we import even tomatoes from Burkina Faso. Did you ever have a school garden? Did that not inspire you to see farming as a decent occupation? If we had state farms in every region, would we not have had all the     youth loitering about aimlessly at Kwame Nkrumah Circle accepting to be farmhands? Do we forget that he who feeds you controls you?

A week or so ago, I listened to a powerful documentary on BBC Radio. Journalist Mariko Oi went to both Singapore and Japan where robots serve as teachers in the classroom and caretaker-assistants of the elderly, respectively.

Again in Singapore, Ms Oi spoke to the Chief Executive Officer of Duck Learning, Hozefa Aziz, who teaches children as young as six and seven years old coding in school.

“We are in an era now where children do not know the kind of job they will be working in 10 years from now. So, we want to equip them with the skills that are necessary for them in the future,” said Aziz to Oi.

Do we sincerely believe that 25 years from now our students of the new curriculum could match their counterparts in Singapore and elsewhere ‘boot-for-boot’? Why are we letting our children behind in the era of technology? I only thought we would learn from China as it has set 32 years ahead to vigorously train to win the World Cup in 2050. What is Ghana’s biggest goal to achieve?

All these rants aside, the last straw that broke the camel's back was the introduction of the new school uniform― a highly bogus and misplaced priority of an intoxicated government. When I told you that teachers recently wrote on the chalkboard the end of term examinations questions, Ghana Education Service [GES] ordered head teachers not to take printing fees from parents. In a sharp contrast, however, the same GES foolishly says parents will be paying for the new school uniform for their wards. This can only happen in Africa, precisely Ghana!

The new school uniform 

And, the reason for the new school uniform is just crazy. That: “The idea is for them [JHS pupils, wearing the new uniform] to start seeing themselves as secondary school students; they are in lower secondary [now],” said the Director General of GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku Amankwa.

I never knew the people referred to in Galatians 3, who were asked ‘who hath bewitched you,’ were Ghanaians until I started paying attention to the happenings at the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service.

As 2pac once said, ‘I see no changes!’ Some educated folks in our country implementing unpalatable policies deserve to have their certificates taken from them. They are more dangerous than armed robbers.

The writer is a broadcast journalist with Media General [TV3/3FM]. Views expressed herein are solely his, and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation whatsoever.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: Hello CID boss, promotion in commotion?

COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa

When Tilapia, 3news’ cartoonist, penciled a beautiful but thought-provoking art about you, I declined writing an article on the topic he captured. I felt he told the public whatever I needed to say.

It was about the press conference you had, briefing the general public on the whereabouts of the missing Takoradi girls. Tilapia captured you in his piece standing on top of two buildings saying you [the police] knew where the girls are. In the building under your right foot were the kidnappers― presumably― attempting to further obliterate their footsteps as they heard your pronouncement.

“Away,” the kidnappers said.

Whereas Tilapia’s work was/is merely an art, it was based on the reality after you ‘generously’ told the public your seeming gains into the search for the girls.

Dear Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, if I am to call a spade a spade and not a big spoon, I was overly mad hearing you utter those words. Yes! I know that if I were at that press conference I would have been behind bars by now. I would have asked you where you got trained as a police officer and whether you sincerely think you know your job and whether you think you deserve your salary after that announcement.

Which police force in the world announces they know the whereabouts of suspects/criminals when they have not arrested them? If it is done in the Americas and Europes, please, let us leave it to them as they have the state-of-the-art facilities to really effect arrest. To what extent was that announcement of good use to the public? Would it not have been ideal and prudent had you secretly dealt with the affected families by, first, briefing them on the state of their daughters and cautioning them not to open up to the media on that?

Maame Yaa, if you care to know, our police force became a cheap bowl for the world’s spit following that unwarranted announcement. In my estimation, you gave the suspects a free exeat!

Last week Friday, April 5, 2019, news broke that you, DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department, had been promoted. According to a statement that was signed by the Director of Public Affairs at the Police Headquarters, DSP Shiella Kessie Abayie-Buckman, Maame Yaa Tiwaa and five others had been promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police (COP). Others also jumped from one rank to the other.

My worry here is not about who was fit for promotion or not as some Ghanaians have expressed. My worry rather is about how the Ghana Police Service feels awarding and promoting themselves in the midst of the commotion surrounding the missing girls, the police brutalizing civilians [journalists in particular], political party vigilante groups raining terror on citizens among an avalanche of such chaos. 

Truth be told, none of the officers who got promoted would have rejoiced had any of the missing girls been their daughter or relative. But, here they were all joyous.

Had Ruth Love Quayson, 18, said to be a graduate of the Fijai SHS in Takoradi; Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21, a student of the University of Education, Winneba, and Priscilla Mantebea Korankye, 15, a student of the Sekondi SHS; been any of our politicians’ daughters, would the police not have gone beyond mere words?

As it stands, I think our government and security forces must always commend the Nigerian government and its security forces for brokering a deal in rescuing the Chibok Girls from the hands of the trigger-happy army of Boko Haram. Our CID, together with the Bureau of National Investigations [BNI], can’t effect arrest of probably three or five kidnappers but only locate their whereabouts. That should tell you there is no room for celebration or whatsoever yet.

Dear Maame Tiwaa, if indeed you have located where the kidnappers are and you think the police are not strong enough to arrest them, what about involving our men at the Burma Camp? Did we not see soldiers displaying unimaginable acrobatics at the 62^nd Independence Parade in Tamale [in the Northern Region] recently? This is the time we need those acrobatics if indeed the kidnappers are in sight!

I feel like there is a knife in my heart whenever I remember that news report had it that there were seven police officers on duty when the kidnapper in custody, Samuel Udotek Wills, broke jail with a hacksaw. In my article on the issue dubbed “Takoradi jail break, a case of criminals in uniform” published in January 2019, I called those officers who were on duty criminals.

I was not surprised later Mr. Udotek said a CID officer assisted him in breaking jail. Maame Tiwaa, the fact that the alleged kidnapper broke jail in less than a day after he was put behind bars should tell you he is one of the criminals. I was mad when the police were pampering him that he will not talk.

I am getting heated as I write this piece and, perhaps, I need to check my blood pressure. Nonetheless, I will leave you a simple plan to really get the criminals arrested after which you can award yourselves with ranks.

Once you still have Samuel Udotek Wills in your custody, sit him down and let him tell you where really his colleagues are. If he shuns your good counsel, get a box of candle, light one, gently open his nose and drop in it the candle’s hot liquid. He will even give you information you did not ask for. But, if he still proves stubborn, get a used bicycle tire, cut a string of it, light it and drop the burning solid at his back. Please, forget about what the human right lawyers and activists would say.

Our elders say if you bite me on the butt, despite the danger of sinking your teeth into fecal matter, then if I bite you on the head, I will disregard the danger of sinking my teeth into cerebral matter!   

The writer is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: Of an ‘imminent earthquake’ & a bogus entity called NADMO!

File photo

No! Asaase Yaa [mother earth] could not recently annoy me by shaking itself in some parts of the Greater Accra Region much more than National Disaster Management Organization’s [NADMO] hollow commentary on the incident— a commentary of vain Christmas message to persons living in earthquake-prone zones and Ghanaians at large.

“With the recent earth tremors happening, we caution the citizens to prepare for any imminent occurrence of earthquake disaster,” a statement signed by the Director General of NADMO, Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh cautioned.

The caution, I must say, is somehow welcoming as the earth tremor was frightening enough. It felt as though someone had the earth in his/her hands, rigorously shaking it left and right— the way a music quartet of the Seventh-day Adventists Church shake their maracas.

It was Sunday, December 9, 2018, and it was the tremor that woke me up from my slumber. The said earth tremor occurred with the swiftness of a duiker leaving residents of Kasoa-Nyanyanu and Weija— the most susceptible spots— and other areas in fear.

“Massa, what was that?” said a friend of mine, Oye Yaw Addofoh.

Oye Yaw Addofoh, publisher of the online news portal, The Probe, had visited me then and would enquire from me what that shake was when I woke up to see him already by his laptop.

“That's certainly an earthquake,” I said.

“Really? Earthquake here?”

“Yes.”

As the wave of shakeup could be felt even in Oyibi, Greater Accra, my area in Ga South had its fair share. This, when NADMO sends a caution that residents should be on the alert, is considerably good. However, it beats my imagination that NADMO sent out such a vague statement.

How do citizens “prepare for any imminent occurrence of earthquake disaster”? Are they to stand by their houses, go sit on top of their houses or abandon it all together?

Without mincing words, NADMO’s 2018 statement of a Christmas message to Ghanaians was the most bogus of press statements I had read last year.

Clearly, the said statement revealed that perhaps the people appointed to ‘manage disasters’ in the country need to be managed themselves.

“NADMO and its partners are ready to mitigate the effect of any such occurrence [referring to the earthquake] on the citizenry, especially those living along the fault line,” a portion of the statement read.

Is this not nauseating to have come from NADMO? Is NADMO waiting for the disaster to strike before they mitigate its effect or what exactly did they mean? Did NADMO’s Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh write this statement himself or it was written for him to sign? If we are to go by the latter, did the Director General read through what he appended his signature to?

This is a country where many of our leaders had their education overseas or lived there. Yet, these same leaders refuse to implement what they saw and marveled about abroad.

"THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed," was a message sent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to people in America in 2018.

US' message to its people in 2018

The message dubbed Presidential Alert went to some 225 million people at the same time. A friend [Ghanaian] there told me it came with loud notification tone and vibration on phones. The alert was designed to warn the public in the event of a national emergency such as a missile attack.

“All smartphones in Japan have an earthquake/tsunami alert system installed, hence, about 5 to 10 seconds before a disaster strikes the warning system should give people a precious few extra seconds to escape to a safer place or duck under the table. When the alert goes off a buzzing noise is heard, and a voice keeps saying, “Jishin desu! Jishin desu” (meaning “There is an earthquake”) until the earthquake stops,” reports jpinfo.com.

Japanese kids are taught natural disaster drills from pre-kindergarten 

That is Japan’s story, too. This tells that the Asian nation has learnt its lessons as taught by earthquakes. Now, Japan builds resistant houses, raises awareness on disaster prevention and trains housewives on what to do [rush to the kitchen to turn off the gas] when disaster strikes among others.

This is what any serious country does. They think deep and plan ahead.

Does NADMO have the data base of persons living in areas likely to be affected by any occurrence of an earthquake? Could it have constantly— at least once a week— sent these persons SMS to relocate [if they could]? Could it have teamed up with radio/TV stations to broadcast such messages as part of these media houses’ corporate social responsibilities?  Could NADMO have sent these Ghanaians messages of what to do should the disaster occur?

Indeed, it is heart-throbbing that NADMO does not have any strategy to ensure lives are not lost should an earthquake strike. Please, forget about its bragging about being prepared. Not even has the organization a relocation plan for citizens living on the fault lines.

Should NADMO now decide to talk about relocation plan, it must not merely be telling residents to relocate. NADMO and government must find temporary shelter for those who cannot afford the cost involved in relocating.

In 2015, I wrote an opinion piece for Radio Ghana’s News Commentary [a segment on the station’s bulletin] arguing that government must find residents of Old Fadama a place when it made moves to eject them from Agbobloshie. My argument was hinged on one pivotal point. That, once we [the nation] allowed the squatters to settle at Old Fadama, it was morally right to find them a place if we meant to eject them from the land they occupied.

Similarly, if we allowed people to settle and build mansions at Kasoa-Nyanyanu and Weija among other areas, NADMO and government cannot look unconcerned but help relocate them if, indeed, there is an imminent earthquake.

Did history not tell us that in 1615, 1636, 1862 and 1939, the then Gold Coast experienced earth tremors? Did history, again, not tell us that the 1939 tremor claimed at least 17 lives with 133 others sustaining injuries? Did we not know from these tremors that there are some areas in the Greater Accra Region earmarked as ‘fault line of earthquake’? Where were the Lands Commission, our chiefs and district/municipal assemblies who gave out lands and supervised residents to build mansions there?

Let’s assume without admitting that the aforementioned institutions were oblivious of citizens building on the fault line. Why did the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company Limited supply these areas with utilities? Do we not collect tolls from businesses in that enclave?

There are a number of ways we can, as a nation, employ to ensure that we do not lose a single soul should an earthquake strike. I will suggest two of such.

NADMO must push for the Ghana Geological Survey Authority [GGSA] to get state-of-the-art facilities to monitor the situation. At least, by this, we will get real time data on how ‘angry’ the earth is to beat the unpredictability of earthquakes.

Secondly, NADMO must get government to make the so-called affordable houses temporarily habitable for residents living on the fault line. These houses, we know, would be the reserve of the foot soldiers of any government in power when they are fully completed. The ordinary Ghanaian must have a feel of it while death, so said to be urgent, knocks on their doors.

For those who find themselves renting in the shakeup zones, relocating might not be a big deal. But, the question is, will it be easy for people leaving their mansions behind for nowhere?

The earlier we solved this puzzle, the better. Lest I forget, there is the Weija Dam in the enclave. Any occurrence of earthquake affecting the Dam could be our customized tsunami. This is the time to harness the best of our engineers to work things out.

NADMO, you have this moment to redeem yourself of your gross incompetence for the sleep that lasts till death happens!

The writer is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organization.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: The radio gem redefining Accra’s late afternoon

MC Bobby is host of Easy Stream on 3FM (92.7)

“I started school at Bible Faith Experimental School, Anyaano-Kumasi but completed my basic education at Rockanje Presbyterian Experimental School, 4 Miles, Tafo-Kumasi, all in the Ashanti Region,” says one of Ghana’s finest radio presenters.

He is stoutly built, dark skinned and a fashionista with an addictive style of fedora-wearing which is almost becoming his trademark. Nonetheless, you may probably not make him out in town with any of these attributes in mind. Trust me! The first day I saw him in person was at the Agape Seventh Day Adventist Church in Sunyani. It was not after he had spoken that I told a friend of mine that “That’s him!”

Born Owusu Amponsah Bobby Manfred and famed in the media circles as simply MC Bobby, he is the kind of broadcaster every serious media house would want to keep any day. His deep baritone voice commands his teeming listeners to stick to their radio sets. He exudes some overwhelming magic!

Back in the Brong Ahafo region, MC Bobby took the media landscape by storm as he succeeded in consolidating the numerous radio stations there into two whenever it was time for the late afternoon show. Indeed, it was his late afternoon show on Sky FM (96.7) dubbed Buzzy Drive and the rest of the other stations.

Whoever has followed the evolution of radio in the Brong Ahafo region would attest that there cannot be a shortlist of 10 all-time best in that industry without mentioning MC Bobby’s name.  

In a country where identifying talent in our children is as rare as a hen’s teeth, I am not totally surprised that the broadcaster actually has a background in Accounting. After his secondary education at the then Abuakwa State College, he proceeded to the then Sunyani Polytechnic, now Sunyani Technical University.

In a WhatsApp chat with MC Bobby, I asked why he spent three years at the polytechnic studying HND Accountancy when he was all into broadcasting even as a student.

“That’s how interesting life could be at times,” he told me. “For real, Sunyani Polytechnic was my next stop after secondary school where I pursued HND Accountancy and afterwards, to the Catholic University, at Fiapre, also in the Brong Ahafo Region to pursue BSC in Business Management. Can you imagine?” he said.

Shelving his business laurels of certificates, MC Bobby became a household name in the Brong Ahafo region through the power of radio.

MC Bobby

“They used to call me Sunyani Bola Ray. I was that huge and celebrated there. They likened me to Bola Ray probably because of my baritone voice on air and definitely because I was hosting the late afternoon show there and arguably their finest,” he recounts.

Having conquered the Brong Ahafo Region, he decided to make a great decision. He would move to Accra. Here, his aim was to challenge himself even more in the media space.

“I moved to Accra simply because I felt I had outgrown Sunyani's media space or probably that of the entire region. I needed a bit of competition since I was growing complacent. I love new challenges. I love to be challenged any day. So, I said to myself, ‘Why not try Accra? If people are doing it big there, why can't I?’”

As Sam Levenson advises that “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going,” the young man poised to be in Accra to make a difference held his vision tightly like a relay button. He kept going. Having settled in Accra eventually, he got himself the opportunity to host the late afternoon show on 3FM (92.7) – a sister station of TV3. He would host a show dubbed Easy Stream from 4-8pm on Mondays-Thursdays and from 4-6pm on Fridays.

MC Bobby is not the usual broadcaster who does the ‘copy and paste’ that dominates our media industry. Is it not so annoying that every television station now has a show of food cooking just because one started it? Are you not worried that from Paga to Axim, almost every television/radio station has the same format of a morning show? And have you not been malnourished by most of the country’s late afternoon shows where the presenter will read or have in-studio actors on a conversation of a grudge between two lovers so listeners call in to discuss such?

I do media monitoring very much. And if I compare even the ‘known names’ of late afternoon presenters in the capital city, I can say without fear of contradiction that MC Bobby is redefining Accra’s late afternoon show.

Working with a well-coordinated content on his show, Easy Stream, such as Poll Mondays, Easy Talk, Smart or Dumb among others, his teeming listeners hardly flick their dial. It is, therefore, not surprising to hear his listeners almost always requesting to meet their rising star in person to know who he really is.

On Sunday, November 25, 2018, MC Bobby acted as a TV host to Ohema, Brong Ahafo Region’s representative for the just ended Ghana’s Most Beautiful [GMB] on TV3.

If you watched the said show, you saw the face behind that voice on 3FM and you would agree his dexterity in broadcasting is exceptionally unmatched. Many have called for MC Bobby to combine radio with television.  

Indeed, few years in Accra I am not surprised to see attempts by equally renowned media houses in the capital that want to poach him. As a close friend of MC Bobby, I get the opportunity to see a flood of emails to this effect. Nonetheless, what he keeps telling me is that he will not rush into taking a decision. He still considers himself as studying the Accra terrain despite his enviable track record of his broadcasting prowess.  

“The competition here [Accra] is serious and makes me sit up any time I'm on air. I mean I'm still a work in progress but I love what I'm building here. So far, Accra has received me well and I know it will get better with time since consistency counts a lot in our line of work,” he tells me.

When asked his worst moment in his radio journey, MC Bobby said that people so close to him he thought could understood his moving to Accra rather narrowly got him giving up.

“My family and ex-girlfriend didn't see the logic in my resolve to move to Accra. To them, ‘Who leaves his job, position and reputation to go start all over again somewhere?’ They not seeing the bigger picture I envisaged and that nearly broke me down. This, perhaps, has been the most difficult moment that I have had to battle in my broadcasting career,” he said.

Well, with his past behind him, MC Bobby is soldiering on now in glory and Accra and Ghana can only wait in the next few years ahead to see him ‘explode.’ If you were not the type that listened to radio because of the overdose of junk content, you now have a great broadcaster in the making to listen to. Yes, a broadcaster assisting us distinguish between wheat and chaff!

“May you live as long as you like and have all you like as long as you live. And always thank God for radio,” is MC Bobby’s closing remarks on radio and also my prayer for you for choosing him.   

The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General (TV3/3FM). Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan@yahoo.com

Twitter: @aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: The girl who turned her lemon into lemonade

Small as the campus of the Ghana Institute of Journalism [GIJ] is, the bearers of the rumor succeeded spreading it across all corners the way a smothering fire does on a refuse dump. Trust me, it was a big news! When journalists – people trained to be professional gossipers – get hold of your secret information, you are better a dead person.

“She is pregnant!” was the infectious chorus. It was on every lip.

The girl who received the torrential blows, the way falling mangoes hit the ground in a windstorm, was Auguster Asantewa Boateng.

A very beautiful girl and the crush of many guys on campus, Auguster came to school after the rumor mongering with a protruding stomach. She was indeed pregnant. For those guys who dreamt of dating her, she had not only disappointed them but herself.

“How could she get pregnant? Who scored that goal [impregnated her]?” were but few of the questions that followed after the rumor was confirmed.

Auguster was not that a close friend of mine. We only exchanged pleasantries whenever we met. This account happened during our days at GIJ while studying Diploma in Communication Studies. Five years later after surviving the silent but loud troll for being pregnant, I have always wanted to tell her how brave she was.

This was a young lady who braved the bulging eyes of gossipers to sit in the lecture halls to complete her course. Many of us wouldn’t have been able to survive such an unwanted attention.

Auguster, a professionally trained journalist, holds a mini MBA (Leadership Development) from the Accra Business School. I am convinced that it will interest you to know she has an initiative dubbed SHERecovered and also the founder of the Butterfly Effect.

“SHERecovered seeks to mentor teen mothers by providing them capacity training, skill acquisition, vocational training, counselling and financial empowerment,” she tells me in a WhatsApp chat.

Auguster says SHERecovered empowers these teen mothers discover their self-worth, self-esteem and confidence and also to make something out of themselves. Our elders say, “We do not tell the child to go play on the refuse but when they do and get themselves injured, we do not leave them to their fate.”

Auguster and her son, Nana Yaw

SHERecovered has been Auguster’s support to teen mothers after they went ‘playing on the refuse’. She understands them better after going through the ‘ordeal’ herself though she was not a teenager when she conceived.

For young children, especially girls who have not gotten pregnant, Auguster’s Butterfly Effect comes in handy to assist them progress steadily in life.

The Butterfly Effect, Auguster tells me, is a registered not-for-profit organization and human rights advocacy initiative. It was founded with the aim of using effective and sustainable strategies to promote and protect the rights of the African child/youth. It focuses on their health, education and self-empowerment.

Nana Yaw smiles to the camera

Auguster says, “The Butterfly Effect aims at creating an environment that supports children/youth and increases educational and health opportunities for the vulnerable in rural communities. This is done through viable social schemes and an informed knowledge that contributes to a higher standard of living.”

Today, Auguster Asantewa Boateng has been mounting one platform after the other telling not only young girls but women how she turned her lemons into lemonade.

I have for some time now monitored Auguster’s exploits on social media, specifically Facebook. Like Qatar Airways, Auguster is going places together with her empowered youth.

On March 20, 2018, Starrfmonline.com carried a thrilling story with the headline: “Butterfly Effect founder adjudged ‘Most Outstanding Female Personality in Education.’ Auguster won that award at the 4th Feminine Ghana Achievement Awards.

The award-winning social entrepreneur is also a teen personal development counselor and life coach. She is a teen mom mentor and child health and education advocate.

Auguster is also the Executive Secretary at the International Youth Parliament and the country representative of Youth Volunteering for Sustainable Development Goals. She also volunteers for several other organizations and recently volunteered as a rapporteur and protocol for the 2nd National Adolescent Reproductive Health Summit held in Accra, Ghana.

“I believe that there is enough hidden inside everyone and it is important that we find that unique thing, work on it to become better people and also inspire others to do same,” Auguster says.

She has an upcoming program dubbed Power House Series that looks at inspiring the next generation of girls through the lens of outstanding women in society.

Indeed, Abraham Lincoln was right when he opined that, “My great concern is not whether you have failed but whether you are content with your failure.” Auguster might have failed along the line but she was not content with her failure.

She had lemons but was creative enough to turn them into lemonade that, today, hundreds of children across the country are enjoying a sip of that juicy ‘drink’.

If you thought of giving the fast-rising young lady a present for this Christmas, Auguster says that what she will appreciate most from you is telling her you are determined to also turn your lemons into lemonade for it is possible.

The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a broadcast journalist with Media General [TV3/3FM]. Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of The Probe/his organisation.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

TALKING DRUM: Can Ghana contain Hurricane Grace?

Grace Hammoah Asare

She is beautiful, intelligent, hardworking, probing and has an undying passion in literally reciting the good old poem: ‘Good better best. May I never rest, until my good is better and my better, best.’

Poised for success and perfection, if you see her in the newsroom at her desk taking an unwavering stare at her phone with her earphones tucked into her ears, she is oftentimes learning pronunciation of words. What’s more, she spends time listening and watching both local and international news anchors.

She strives to polish her voice to be as outstanding as that of Radio Ghana’s Mercy Sowah and to master the unflinching confidence and interviewing skills of Aljazeera’s Jane Dutton.  

“I always see my viewers/listeners as an intelligent group of people who deserve the best from me,” she would tell me.

Grace Hammoah Asare is the name and the new face on Ghana’s leading television network, TV3. She anchors News@10 on weekends and News in Brief on weekdays. As her self-acclaimed manager, I monitor her as though she is my daughter.

“When you see my message or call, relax. Remember, I have promised you not to be a sycophant but only your watchdog,” I tell Grace.

From messages of compliments people send her via WhatsApp and other social media platforms, it is clearly obvious that I am not the only person happy seeing Grace Hammoah Asare climb higher the career ladder.

If she happens to anchor Midday Live on TV on Sundays, her church― led by the pastor― would urge they close early. Why? Right in the church, they would mount a television set and watch their own read the news. Is this not beautiful?

On Sundays when News@10 has to be rescheduled way beyond 10:30pm due to the ongoing Ghana’s Most Beautiful, Grace still has loyal viewers staying tuned to TV3 to watch her read the news. This is the level of support Grace’s church and many Ghanaians are giving to the promising news anchor.

Grace at VOA's media workshop

Who could have thought that that young girl who did her secondary education at Wesley Grammar School will someday be the one reading to the nation the news we yearn for? Such is life!

Grace has been a close friend since our days at Ghana Institute of Journalism. She was my senior, I must say. When she joined Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom’s then First Digital TV (now GN TV) as a national service person, she had it at the back of her mind not to despise such a platform. She was determined to make a mark there. Truly, her hard work got her employment there. She worked for some months before joining Media General [owners of TV3, 3FM, Onua FM, Connect FM, Akoma FM and 3news].

For her two year stay so far with Media General, Grace Asare’s unique style of presentation is doubling her admirers. So, what is this style about?

“Solomon, aside my busy schedule, I do make time to read. Larry King in his book ‘How to Talk to Anyone, Anywhere’ got me my winning formula. ‘To be a good speaker, you must be a good listener. Good follow-up questions are the mark of a good conversationalist,” Grace says. “Dale Carnegie will tell you that to be interesting, be interested.”

Though this might seem that simple, it’s never simple to many interviewers. To be able to elicit good follow-up questions is a full topic for another discussion. This is the craft the young woman is mastering.

A friend of mine, Augustina Yeboah, once asked me: “How old is Grace? I mean TV3’s anchor. She appears young but mature enough in what she does. I’ve watched her squeeze all the needed answers from her interviewees.”

Indeed, Grace Hammoah Asare is steadily rising. But, she is not rising to the top on a silver platter. She is a ‘rebel’ who, at times, fights her comfort to push forward her dreams. On one Friday, she came to work at dawn. When she closed, she was instructed to sit in for the News@10 anchor, Stephen Anti. This meant she had to stay at work till after 10:30pm.

While she read the news that day, a friend phoned me. I was at home.

“Are you watching your girl?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Why is she blinking her eyes too much tonight?” he asked again.

I had not taken notice of that. When Grace paused the news for a commercial break, I called her to ask why.

“Charley, you can’t believe I’m feeling sleepy,” she said.

“Ajala! [comic exclamation]. Please, 30 minutes will elapse soon and you’ll be done. Finish hard. I’m waiting to say to you that ‘you did it’.”

Here was a young lady rebelling against nature. Many young folks, of our generation, would have picked their bags and left the office when told to do extra hours.

If you ever heard her name or voice on 3FM [92.7], you were not mistaken. Grace Asare combines radio with television. She partly does the 6am news on radio as well reads the Business News on Newshour [6pm news] on 3FM.    

Grace reads on 3FM [92.7]

Grace is workaholic who makes sure the job is done and dusted before she says ‘goodbye’. When she’s off work, however, she relaxes.

She keeps telling me she aspires to be an international brand. In the near future, when Grace Hammoah Asare becomes a household name as TV3’s Alfred Ocansey and a few others, do not envy. She worked hard for it.

The only question I keep asking myself ahead of such a day in her life is, “Can Ghana really contain a ‘Hurricane Grace’ considering the momentum she is gathering?”

The writer is broadcast journalist with Media General [3FM/TV3]. Views expressed here are solely his and do not, in anyway, reflect the editorial policy of his organisation.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba