The late arrival of the Minister of Education and other governmental officials to the prize-giving day ceremony of the Anfoega Senior High School in the Kpando District on Saturday, May 15 incurred the displeasure of the Paramount Chief of Anfoega traditional area, Togbe Tepre Hodo II, who minced no words in chastising them.

The program which should have begun at 9:30 am, started at 1:30pm. The Education Minister, Mr. Alex Tettey-Enyo, the Volta Regional Minister, Joseph Amenowode and the Director of Education, Gabriel Kploanyi, all arrived at 12:11pm. Togbe Hodo castigated government officials and politicians in general for being in the habit of arriving at functions late and thus “distorting the programme and wasting everybody’s time.”

He said that “if the President does not put his foot down to check these attitudes of his ministers and other politicians; they would derail his ‘Better Ghana’ agenda.” Togbe Hodo said “the time has come for politicians to call a spade a spade and not a big spoon, because Ghanaians can no longer be taken for granted by politicians.

He cautioned that if things continued to be done the same way as was done in past, then the Better Ghana agenda that Ghanaians had been promised and were yeaning for would elude them. “We are all talking about leadership and if our politicians continue this way, what type of signals are they sending to the youth? “My chiefs and I disapprove of late start of functions and especially so when no reasons are assigned for the lateness,” the paramount chief said.

He cautioned politicians not to take traditional authorities for granted or they would pay dearly for it. Both the Minister of Education and the Regional Minister apologized to the guests. Mr. Tettey-Enyo said they could not have absented themselves from the function and had to attend at all cost. He said it was not their intention to inconvenience traditional authorities and inconvenience traditional authorities and other dignitaries and invited guests.

Mr. Amenowode said he would not attempt an explanation for arriving late. The occasion which was on the theme: “45-yerars of Community Education. Challenges and the way forward,” was used on commission a bus, a computer laboratory and girls hostel. Mrs. Margaret Krampah, the headmistress of the school, appealed for a boy’s dormitory, administration block, a dinning hall complex, classrooms and staff bungalows to enhance academic work.

Mr. Peter Hayibor, chairman of the Board of Governors, expressed concern about the school’s low enrolment, describing it as a setback in the human resource development of the area and appealed to stakeholders in education to save the situation.