What The Papers Say
National Concord, Nigeria, May 27 1985
Children's Day
Children all over the country will today celebrate Children's Day, the observance of which began when the International Union for Child Welfare (IUCW), first celebrated the universal children's day in October 1958. In Nigeria, the day which coincides with the anniversary of the creation of states was started during General Gowon's military regime.The day is set aside to remind parents, guardians, teachers and the government of their responsibility for the physical, moral and educational development of children - an obligation that presently cannot be said to have been adequately dealt with when considering the present plight of the Nigerian children.
It is a known fact that in states like Ogun, Lagos and Bendel, children are sent out from schools for failing to pay their education levies or inability to produce their parents' tax clearance certificates. It is as if the government is unaware of the nation's present economic recession which has sent majority of the employable adults out of jobs. This is bad enough without adding the outrageous education levies these unfortunate parents have to pay. Our nation must be the only one of its kind where survival of its citizens, especially of its children, depends on tax certificates and which demands tax from its unemployed population.
More disturbing, however, is the common practice of lining the streets with children when there is one august visitor or the other in their states, thereby keeping the children more on the streets than in their classes. They have been turned into puppets to be used by the sycophants in the society.
The unnecessary conveyance of 5,000 children to Kaduna for this year's celebration is another of the puppet-role our younger generation suffer in the hands of its adult population.
This nation tops the list of countries with high mortality rate. Health-care services have become luxuries that only the wealthy can afford. Children die in large numbers every year because their nation cannot provide them with basic medical services or because their parents cannot pay for the services.
Individual states and so-called philanthropic groups cannot be excluded from the crime of neglecting our nation's future leaders. They are more interested in development fund for such luxury projects as stadia or cultural festivals than investing in the future of this country.
As regards the parents, most are too occupied trying to make money to spare enough time for their children. Children are often left at the mercy of house helps, who are no more than children themselves.
It is mind-boggling to conjecture what our present youths would turn out to be, especially in a situation where their parents have become armed robbers and drug peddlers. Needless to say, the future does not look bright.
Therefore, amidst this year's parades and exhibitions, we implore both parents and the government to spare a thought for these innocent citizens, for they are the greatest assets that any nation could possibly possess.
Free Press, Ghana, May 17 1985
In search of true democracy
Man has since he left the state of nature to join others in a social contract always struggled to ensure that his inalienable rights to be himself, to express himself and other basic human rights are not buried by societal pressures.Throughout the ages men have gone to war, made revolutions, all in pursuit of such basic political and economic rights. The French Revolution when it occurred in the 18th century was essentially a movement by the majority of Frenchmen against despotism glorified as divine monarchy.
The American Revolution through which the foundations of the modern USA were laid was also a manifestation of the indomitable human will to manage his own affair.
Similarly when Ghana and many African countries chose self-government with all its uncertainties, they were asserting that right of every race to reject servitude in any form of tranquility.
The current struggle by blacks in South Africa cannot be a movement to throw out or oppress the minority whites, but only a bid to ensure that all who live in South Africa can enjoy universal suffrage through the ballot box.
The mere mention of the ballot box as a mechanism for ensuring majority participation in politics is of course not a most welcome option in some circles.
One would that democracy defined as government by the people, for the people and with the people or the dictatorship of the proletariat would really exist in the world. Unfortunately mankind is yet to attain that ideal, but the limitation should not be used to dismiss constitutional rule or the ballot box.
Those who strive towards the ideal, only end up freezing the political rights of entire societies whilst the search continues for their perfect model of democracy.
Very often the people who condemn party politics or constitutional rule as a regime in which an oligarchy determines the destiny of the majority, by the very framework of their regime also become another oligarchy who wield their power in the glorified name of the people and impose decisions on the people.
These last three years rather than usher in the ideal democratic situation has only deepened the doubts of people as to whether the ongoing process by its very nature can guarantee the fuller participation of the people. Consequently there is today in Ghana divided opinions as to what really constitutes the best guarantee for freedom. In fairness to every Ghanaian's inalienable rights nobody can for instance arrogate to himself the right to decide which system is better for Ghanaians.
To the Ghana Bar Association and the National Union of Ghana Students the present system does not have the basic ingredients of democracy.
They have accordingly called for a return to constitutional rule, a call which the FREE PRESS unequivocally shares. There is another school of thought represented in the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution and in pronouncement of some members of the PNDC that Ghana cannot be returning to the old political system.
The Special Advisor to the PNDC, Capt Kodjo Tsikata underscored this feeling when he told 'workers on May Day that the National Commission for Democracy was not instituted in order to preside over a return to old systems which have failed us.
Given the fact that Ghanaians are divided on the issue of our political future, there is no better system to judge what we really want than to go to the referendum.
