The Ex-President admiring his portrait, presented to him by the students.
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday September 14, 2011.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government should be given due credit for its contribution towards the infrastructural development of educational institutions in the country particularly at the tertiary level, as the polytechnic students commend him for the unprecedented development.
“In this country, recognizing and giving credit where it is due has become lopsided but I want everybody to know that the government I led also did quite well in the provision of infrastructure in the education sector,” Dr Kufuor said.
The Former President made the complaint when national executives of Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students (GNUPS) paid a courtesy call on him at his private residence at the airport West residential area in Accra.
The students had called on him to show their appreciation for supervising the massive infrastructural development that was brought to the campuses of all the 10 polytechnics in the country during the NPP regime.
The former President said “when people are sharing the credit for founding educational institutions they leave us out. What about the Ghana Telecom University? I founded it but I do not take credit for it.”
He said the NPP recognizes the importance of education as the bedrock of any nation’s development and added “we realized that polytechnics could serve as a critical ingredient in the nation’s development that is why we directed a lot of resources to that sector.”
“If the polytechnics are that important then any responsible government should see it as a duty to commit more funds to uplift the physical and development of these critical institutions.”
He said “we brought infrastructural development to the various polytechnics and even Legon will be envious of some of the facilities in the polytechnics.”
“The polytechnics are meant to provide middle level human resource for development. They should be given the needed infrastructure and a conducive atmosphere of learning and above all the sense of pride to be able to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country.”
When the students appealed to him to adopt either Bolgatanga Polytechnic or Wa Polytechnic and nurture it, President Kufuor said “they are all my children…I cannot pick and choose…I will do all I can to help both.”
Later when journalists asked for his comment on Wikileaks expose’ the former President “they are hearsay reports. We have to be careful the way we use hearsay reports. There should be a caveat on Wikileaks”.
Sika Antobre, Coordinating Secretary of GNUPS who spoke on behalf of the students said President Kufuor and his government “gave the polytechnic fraternity a tremendous help.”
He said GNUPS was looking forward to partnering the soon to be unveiled John A. Kufuor Foundation for Excellence saying “we want to build a fruitful relationship with your foundation.”
The students later presented to Mr. Kufuor his portrait as captured by an artist from one of the polytechnics.
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