Information from the gravine and impeccable source indicates that the man at the center of controversy with multiple birth dates, Iddrisu Mahama whose retirement number 117 came this year and has retired, and instead of going home to rest, has gone to the national headquarters of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to seek contract of service to enable him remain at post as the acting director of education for the Upper West Region. IS THIS REALLY TRUE?
It will be recalled that Iddrisu Mahama had it tough with the entire teaching force in the region especially his style of administration where he acted like a school senior prefect bullying teachers working under him especially the few ones who had the guts so to speak, to question some of his outmoded and draconian methods. Iddrisu Mahama handed over the administration of the regional directorate of the GES on the 19th of January 2015, and went missing and since then he never appeared in public. But intelligence gathering shows that he has been in Accra for all this while seeking contracts to continue to serve the government as the acting regional director of education for the Upper West Region.
There are a number of reasons why Iddrisu Mahama should not be given the contract he is seeking and these reasons will be outlined in this write up. First and foremost, the position he held as the acting regional director of education is a public one which when vacated must be filled by equally competent person within the rank and file of the Ghana education service. It is very wrong and unacceptable to make one person appear like a ‘demi god’ without whose presence everything will grind to a halt.
Information gathered from the police service shows that the contract given to the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Amin by the president, prevented over five hundred police personnel in the country from getting their promotions and that was because the president has used his discretionary powers under the constitution to appoint somebody who should have gone home to allow others to contribute their quota towards national development. But the police, a state institution cannot grumble and so the president must have his way.
Some time ago we were made to understand that, the issue of giving contracts to retirees had become a thing of the past, how come we are revisiting the same issue?
The second reason there should not be any contract of extension for Iddrisu Mahama is that in Ghana the compulsory age of retirement is fixed at 60 and he has attained 60 years what business has he to go in for contract? He should go home period!
Reason number three involves the open admission by Iddrisu Mahama that he has failed the people of the region when he took over as the regional director of education in the year 2011.He said since 2011 academic performance has been bad, the reason he gave for transferring 144 teachers in the Wa Municipality without going through the GES laid down rules and regulations.
Reason number four is the fact that Iddrisu Mahama is a dishonest person. His dishonesty stems from the fact that he had several birthdates until he hit the headlines and admitted that he was having multiple different birth dates. How can such a character be allowed to man the affairs of the region, a place where literacy rate, according to the 2010 population and housing census, shows that ONLY close 24% of the people are literate? Food for thought there!
The other reasons involve the fact that Iddrisu Mahama was part of the ghost name creation in the Upper West Region especially during the period of recruiting pupil teachers. Mahama could surreptitiously connect with innocent people for their names to be kept on GES pay rolls and when their bulk money came they will share equally with him that was an arrangement in place until the government in its wisdom scrapped the pupil teachers’ recruitment exercise. Iddrisu Mahama was busy creating ghost names and shouting on roof a top that he was against it. The situation was so bad that Iddrisu Mahama had to arrange with his step son, one Bandana to be kept on GES pay roll, without him holding a chalk in anything called classroom. These are facts that can be crosschecked by anybody who is a public spirited person.
There are several GES vehicles Iddrisu Mahama auctioned to himself as the regional director of education, a complete case of conflict of interest. What is important to note is that the position Iddrisu Mahama held was an acting one, why on earth would he think that without him the region cannot move? Then we would as well ask the then first regional director of education for the region, Honorable M.A Seidu, who started in 1983 as the first regional director of education. But what did Honorable M.A Seidu do? He retired and founded his own school in the region and I bet you it is one of the best in the region. Why won’t Iddrisu Mahama with his so called vast experience venture into the private sector, but would want to milk state resources?
If he is put on contract, seriously speaking, how he can be held accounstable.Even when he was acting he was ungovernable. Already before handing over, we have heard about his sinister moves of getting people to forge receipt because of the auditing that needed to be done before handover. How can we entrust our destiny and educational future in the hands of people who are permanently on retirement? I beg to differ entirely!
Iddrisu Mahama has in the last three years of his administration, inundated his community of Mangu in the Wa Municipality, with several building projects to the amazement of all. Many are wondering whether he is a contractor of a kind that in public service he can afford to do such a thing. But may be its due to ‘hard work’, the ‘workaholic’ he calls himself.
The last point that must be explained why Iddrisu Mahama must not be allowed to come back as the acting regional director of education, is that the man was on platform to have said that he will not go away unless the current government loses power. It is true that certain categories of civil servants can do active politics but for a whole regional director to have made such a comment publicly, it is quite unfortunate. This singular comment has polarized the educational front in the region and Iddrisu Mahama is aware of this ugly situation he has created.
Besides he also found himself wedged between religious confusion. He goes public to say that it is one particular sect of the Muslim religious group that is working to get him out of office, and yet at another point, he will tell the Christian community by saying that he is a Muslim but his wives, who number about three, are all Christians and so they should support him. Little did he know that they laugh behind his back because of his violation of the Christian belief of one man one wife and therefore any ‘Chris-Mus’ (Christian and a Muslim at the same time) has no place in their system of belief.
In effect Iddrisu Mahama is not a unifier and his second coming is nothing short of vindictiveness and total destruction of the educational sector. Remember before his retirement anytime he heard that about ten people were gathered he will accuse them of planning a demonstration and the next move is to transfer all the people identified. Such is the nature of the man who wants to come back in the Upper West Region as the “CONTRACT STAFF ON GES PAY ROLL AS THE ACTING REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, PHEW!
In concluding this is a very special appeal to the authorities that be, that in everything that we do the human factor cannot be eliminated. It is so overriding that it grinds everything to a halt. Even attempts to replace humans with robots is still a fiasco and the nearest that scientists have come so close to eliminating the human factor is the ability to reduce their numbers. But one forceful fact with all the weight of evidence attached to is the fact that the issue of retired contract staff has never open up our country. Even those who have specialist skill have not helped matters. The example in my preamble with the police is the clearest of all. The advice to the GES and all those who matter in bringing a new person to the Upper West Region as a regional director is that IDDRISU MAHAMA IS NEVER INDISPENSABLE!
(Postscript: What about the man from the Volta Region penciled for the post?)