Government may have landed itself into trouble after failing to get Ghanaians behind the Comprehensive Sexuality Education policy.
This is according to the Ranking member on the foreign affairs committee in parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who says courting the support of Ghanaians for the CSE is the main reason the Swedish government advanced the first tranche of funding for the initiative.
Government has beaten a retreat after facing a push back from the Ghanaian populace in an attempt to implement the policy.
There was outrage from Ghanaians after it was discovered that there was an attempt to smuggle CSE into the new curriculum introduced for basic schools introduced September.
Government through the ministry of Education has since sought to calm tempers by indicating that it has not improved the initiative.
Commenting on the issue in a post on his facebook page former deputy minister for Education Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa however says government has landed itself into this “tough manoeuvre” because of the refusal to be transparent and candid on the CSE initiative.
He was particularly concerned with the plight of the Education Minister, Dr. Matthew OpokuPrempeh who has been caught pants down after it emerged he was untruthful when he attempted to distance himself from the initiative and claimed there was no such moves.
The North Tongu MP says the minister and his outfit faces the tough task of accounting for the money committed to the initiative by the Swedish government after the failed to achieve a key deliverable.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Ghana was one of 5 CSE Acceleration Countries who are to benefit from a total funding of $22 million.
“On one hand they need to calm down outraged Ghanaians who are running out of patience with the many official contradictions and untruths; on the other hand they need to convince the Swedish Government which has already committed $22million to Ghana and the other 5 CSE Program Acceleration Countries that Ghana will justify the use of their tax payer dollars especially when one of the key deliverables upon which our Government received the first tranche of money is a promise to “overcome social resistance and operational constraints”,” he stated.
He said government also faces a difficult conversation with after UNFPA“in the face of current denials after agreeing with them to provide CSE technical support to the GES?”
“Then, what happens to the contract signed with the special CSE Project Implementation Officer operating from the UNESCO Ghana office?” he asked.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says government has been greatly exposed by teachers and Ghanaians who have shown that they are very well informed on the issue and has called on government to be sincere.
“Already, Ghanaian teachers have exposed the Minister of Education with page 11 of the Teacher Resource Pack for Primary 1 – 6 which shamefully contradicts the Minister’s assertions in his signed statement that there is no inclusion of CSE.”
“The Ghanaian people are certainly more informed about this issue than Government assumes. Only sincere backtracking and a total full disclosure shall set Government free,” he said.
Story by: Sena Nombo/Radiogoldlive.com
