kriskotei

wondering what the future (if there is any) holds for these young lads. only time will tell

I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep. ~Charles Maurice

ABOUT A week ago it was reported in a national daily, Daily Graphic, that 50% of the students that sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in Ghana had failed, or better still, they did not make the pass mark to enter into Senior ‘something… something’ School.

I am confused as to whether to call it a Senior High School or Senior Secondary School just because every government that takes over the mandate to rule the people of Ghana come in with their own ideas.

First, it was Sixth Form, Ordinary Level (O-Level) and Advanced Level (A-Level), and then it was reduced to Junior Secondary School and Senior Secondary School with a three-year each study programme which was later reduced to two and a half years for each stage.

This programme was also revised by another government to Junior High School and Senior High School with a four-year programme of study.

Thinking that this new programme will do ‘magic’ in the educational system of Ghana, a new directive has been issued to change that programme back to its previous three-year duration, all because a new government is in the driving seat.

Hope you are not surprised by all these ‘gutter-to-gutter’ games our leaders are playing with the educational system. Guess what, none of their children go to schools in Ghana so they have every right to toy with the lives of the poor ones who cannot afford even the visa fee let alone pay for plane tickets for their wards to go to school off the shores of Ghana.

What else do you expect the end result of this forth and back in the educational system to be, failure! And guess what, BECE graduates do not have a second chance. Once you fail, you are not permitted to re-sit the papers that you might have failed.

So, I sat down to ask myself, “what are all these boys and girls going to do?’ It is said that “to be a rich man, University is not the answer”, and that is my greatest worry because these lads might venture into other activities to enable them fit into society.

Prostitution, robbery and the latest craze among the youth, ‘sakawa’ are some of the vices that we will reap from failing to do that which is right for the society instead of playing politics with the mandate given them by the people to come out with pragmatic reforms to our problems.

Come to think of it, I find it absurd that the authorities are shocked about a school that is training kids in the art of armed robbery at Tema. What else do they expect? You reap what you sow.

If pastors are washing ladies' vagina for miracles, i wonder what will happen if the miracle does not work

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”   —Matthew 7:1-3

With the above quote in mind, I have come not to judge the ‘men of God’, rather to chastise them because some have decided to thwart the good works of the genuine men of God.
The Bible says in 1 John 4:1 that, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”. This must tell you that I am not far from right if I say some fake ones are out to destroy the good work of the genuine ones.
In less than a week, a series of bad reports have been in the media about pastors washing women’s vaginas with salt and water in the name of making them marriage material (come to think of it, why should some women make marriage the ultimate goal in life, that until a man puts a ring on their finger, they will do whatever it takes to grab one?), caning supposed witches in the name of exorcising them, inserting ‘things’ in their vaginas to make them fertile and so on. Note that all these happened to women. Is it because they are more concerned when it comes to spiritual matters?
One thing I have come to realise is that, our mothers, sisters, aunties, wives (Makosas included) and grandmothers dominate any church at all that one enters, be it Orthodox, Charismatic, Spiritual or Pentecostal and for your information, they always have a message from God when it gets to worship time at church services.
In Mark 13:22 the Good Book says, “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect”, with this in mind, I always wonder why people always run after these so-called Evangelists, Prophets, Bishops, Reverend Doctors, Archbishops, etc. etc. for miracles.
It does no harm to ask a man of God to assist you in prayer for it is said that if two shall agree on something on earth so shall it be in heaven. So, must the quack men of God take advantage of their flock and humiliate them with all sorts of antics just because they needed a ‘powerful’ man to stand by them in prayers? No! This should not be the case.
The Christians Association of Ghana and what have you must “get up, stand up” and defend the good name of the mission in which they have been called to lead before it gets too bad if not worse. The bad plant must be nipped in the bud before it grows and become a gigantic tree.
To my dear ones I say unto you “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” — (Matthew 7:7,8) and “When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” — (Matthew 6:5, 6).
Thank You!

Daily Guide’s CEO, Mrs Gina Blay displaying the award and certificate. With her are Fortune Alimi (Editor), Henrietta Abayie and Halifax Ansah-Addo

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.” —Author Unknown

Most often, we hear people say, “This is not how we do it here, or this is not the house style” when one tries to bring a form of variety (change) in the way things are being done at where he or she finds him/herself.
I was once watching a cartoon series on television and one of the characters that wanted to jump over a very big valley, seeing how wide the gap was, got a little scared but said, “There is nothing like impossible if you do not give it a try”.
On Saturday, 15th August 2009, the Ghana Journalists Association held its 14th Awards Ceremony that also marked the Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of the association.
Among the many awards that were dished out, Daily Guide was unanimously adjudged Best layout and design (newspaper) for the year 2008.
You could imagine the grin I had on my face even as I lay on my bed, forcing myself to sleep. I felt more like my one and a half-year-old daughter with a glass of ‘Vitamilk’ in hand; she will not let go until the whole quantity is gulped down her throat.
So, at least someone is watching. The GJA Awards has made me, my department and the whole of Daily Guide feel very special among all the papers that are trying so hard to match us, as far as designing is concern.
Daily Guide has done her best to break away from the traditional way of doing things and today, a lot of newspapers a forcing so hard to look like us. They might do their best but who ever picks their newspapers will say, “Your design looks like that of Daily Guide’s” simply because we have set the pace and they are following.
We never saw an impossibility on our way, but with encouragement, determination and prayer to seek God’s knowledge, wisdom, understanding and the spirit of creativity, we have come this far. Do not feel too comfortable where you find yourself, break out of that comfort zone and you will one day look back and realise that it is for the good of it.
Kudos to all “Wemblians”!

Dinah Tetteh LADY

“I am a simple and beautiful person (especially inwardly). I try to accept people for who they are and so forgive them for certain mistakes. I preach forgiveness; that is the way to go, forgive and move on”
– Dinah Tetteh (LADY)

I once wrote on FACEBOOK that, “appreciate me now that I am alive. Don’t wait till I am put in a suit and placed in a coffin else…!” and my friends that I share messages with asked me to stop threatening them.
Today, I write to dedicate this article to a colleague of mine who has left to the United States of America. I affectionately call her ‘My Lady’.
I have not come to present to you a tribute in memory of anybody but to appreciate the life of someone that I will be missing for at least the next two years.
Lady is not a very ‘close’ friend of mine but someone we all related to in our department and when it came to deciding on who qualified to go to heaven, we all decided on her.
Her morale behaviour made people like Nash (another colleague) wish to have her as wife. Very calm, intelligent, obedient and when she heard of people being paid GH¢3,000 a month she would exclaim, “Ah! That is too much”.
Lady’s cushy nature makes me wonder if there still exist ladies who will refuse honey being poured into their mouth. A colleague decided to give her a lift home one day since it had been raining, she simply refused with the excuse that, “you can’t waste all that fuel just for one person”.
God being so good, Lady has gained admission to pursue higher studies all the way in USA and I know her good deeds will always bring favours her way.
The preceding quote of my article is from Lady’s FACEBOOK profile, and believe you me, she did not put it there for the sake of filling in the blanks but she meant every word of it.
To you who are reading this article now, I say I appreciate you for the fact that you have decided to make a little time to read the little things I have been putting on my BLOG, I really do and thank you for that.
To Lady, I say thank you for not making me walk to the market to buy those liquid soaps you have been bringing to the office for my little girls to bath with. (Hope this tells you how much I will be missing you).
Appreciate somebody today for you don’t know what tomorrow holds.
Stay blessed!