The former Member of Parliament for the Assin Central Constituency, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has challenged the youth of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to show keen interest in the rebuilding process of the party.

According to him the role of the youth in the rebuilding exer­cise cannot be overemphasised, however, it was important that they do more if the party wants to recapture power in 2028.

Speaking at the Freshers’ Orien­tation and General Meeting of the College of Health and Well-Being branch of the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the NPP on campus over the weekend, Mr Agyapong expressed his pro­found gratitude to the students for their dedicated services and loyalty to the party over the years.

He assured TESCON of his support and pledge to ensure that their welfare was taken care of giv­en their role in youth mobilisation and projecting the ideals of the party on various platforms.

Mr Agyapong who is also a former aspirant of the flagbear­ership of the party donated an undisclosed amount of money to support the group’s activities and promised to fund activities of various TESCON branches across the country.

He subsequently called on senior members of the NPP and former government appointees to liaise with and work towards empower­ing TESCON to make the party more attractive on tertiary educa­tion campuses.

This he said would enhance the party’s acceptability among the youth.

He reiterated this commitment to the TESCON members of the University of Energy and Natu­ral Resources in Sunyani, Bono Region, on the same day.

In response to suggestions for increasing the voting rights of TESCON from two to five per in­stitution, he indicated his support for granting all TESCON execu­tives of all accredited TESCON institutions voting rights during the party’s national elections.

This he said would significantly enhance the participation of more youth in the internal processes of the party.

Additionally, he affirmed his support for the expansion of the electoral college of the Party to in­clude more members in a manner that protects the integrity of the Party’s structures.

Mr Agyapong explained that such a move would engender a sense of ownership, avert apathy and enhance democracy in and out of the party.

 BY TIMES REPORTER

 The Catholic Bishops’ Confer­ence has accepted the apology from President Mahama for the omission committed by way of delaying the clergy’s invitation to the National Education Forum, currently taking place at Ho, the Volta Regional capital.

The Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Most Reverend Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, who made this known at the forum, expressed the church’s gratitude to the President and the Minister for Education for the sub­sequent invitation of the church to be part of the event.

He said the vital role education played in national development could not be overemphasised, which called for collaboration of stakeholders to promote quality education.

Most Rev. Fianu said the Cath­olic Church was not happy about some appointments and transfers to and from Catholic schools with­out recourse to the church, and wondered whether there existed partnership in the education sector.

He stressed that the dissemina­tion of information on educational matters without reaching out to a major stakeholder such as the Catholic Church was unacceptable.

Most Rev. Fianu lamented the unfriendly nature some education directors related to the Catholic Church, which according to him did not promote collaboration in the delivery of quality education.

He said that the over-popula­tion at second cycle schools which affected character formation, teacher-student ratio, teacher con­tact hours with individual students and proper supervision was of concern to the Catholic Bishops.

Most Rev. Fianu said the Cath­olic Church was against the use of its school compounds for struc­tural development without any engagement with the church.

On national issues, he con­demned the upsurge in social vices and corrupt practices in the country.

Most Rev. Fianu called for introduction of religious, moral, ethical and civic education that would lead to the production of responsible and productive citizens and not just knowledgeable and skillful individuals, who would become social misfit.

The President, on behalf of the Planning Committee of the National Education Forum said: “I’m aware that the omission was very speedily remedied, but you still deserve an unqualified apology for this oversight. And since you are the purveyors of God’s mercy on earth, I’m sure that you are forgiving us for this.”

President Mahama’s apology was in response to a joint state­ment issued in Accra by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), expressing their disappointment in the government following their exclusion from the ongoing education forum.

The two bodies stated that even though the list of invitees to the national level stakeholders included some organisations that were affiliated to them, they as the parent bodies were excluded from the forum.

 FROM SAMUEL

AGBEWODE, HO

 Former United Nations Gover­nance Advisor, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah, has called for a clear separation between politics and national de­velopment to ensure development.

Speaking on Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station, he questioned the long-standing prac­tice of newly elected presidents removing all key appointees of the previous government, regardless of their performance.

“I am not a constitutional lawyer, and I may not be too familiar with the Constitution, but I am not sure there is any provision requiring an elected president to sack all known appoin­tees of the previous government and replace them with his own choices,” he said.

He acknowledged that some strategic posi­tions, especially in the security sector, may re­quire changes for national security reasons but criticised the “wholesale sacking” of appoin­tees as a norm in Ghana’s political system.

According to him, this practice had existed across different administrations and was not unique to the current government under President Mahama.

“In my view, it doesn’t make sense to do that, but currently, the system allows it. So, it is not a matter of blaming Mahama or anybody. It is the system they inherit and the practice that has been going on,” he ex­plained.

Prof. Agyeman-Duah pointed to Thailand as an example of a country that has success­fully separated politics from development.

“In Thailand, politicians focus on gov­ernance while civil servants, who maintain professionalism, continue implementing policies and projects regardless of changes in government. Only top political functionaries are replaced,” he said.

He warned that without a shift in Ghana’s approach to governance and development, the country risks making slow progress, saying, “If we are not careful to change our development model, which should come with a change in mindset, we will move two steps forward and four steps backwards, and that really spells disaster for our country.”