Blondys233

We need light, literally as well as figuratively. We need light to guide us through the darkness of ignorance, to help us to make informed decisions, to enable us to navigate and negotiate the maze of life‘s possibilities and hazards, and to allow us to recognise and seize those opportunities that are the steps towards reaching our destiny and fulfilling our divine purpose.

_Sylvester Mensah

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
—Napoleon Hill

Address to La Residents in the UK

During my tenure as MP, I addressed a formal gathering of the residents of my constituency in London. It was a pleasant reunion of natives of La outside the shores of Ghana, during which I apprised my audience of developments in the constituency back home. The occasion also afforded me the opportunity to answer questions and to discuss general situations back home.

Present at the gathering were Mr Ekow Mends, Chairman of the UK and Ireland Branch of the NDC; Dr Ashie Okpoti, Provost of the London Graduate School of Management, and varied representatives of other groups and organisations.
I took pains to diagnose the political ailments of the country at the time and proposed some interventions for those ‗ailments‘‘. For instance, I talked about how there was the need for all of us, whether at home or abroad, and whether we belonged to the party in power or to the opposition, to assume supervisory responsibility. I diagnosed our major setback as our unwillingness to be part of the success story which may eventually be credited to the party that has the mandate to rule. I noted that Ghana continued to make positive and enviable strides in the entire spectrum of national development, and that this trend had made the citizens resolve to work harder in order to see the fulfilment of the social, economic, and political programmes.

I touched on the educational reform programme which was being implemented at the time, telling those gathered before me how it was important for all of us as Ghanaians to appreciate the sense and goal of the package, and also to sympathise with the inevitable irritations inherent in the programme‘s schematic implementation.
I told the gathering that any kind of reform in any sphere would always have its panic button-pushers; that there certainly would be bumps on the way. When reform is brought into judgement and the preliminary evidence is presented, reform will not get a fair judgement unless a much longer period of implementation is allowed. I took the opportunity to thank the Dadekotopon residents in London who made diverse contributions towards my election as MP, and I urged them to consider making equivalent financial and material contributions to the Dadekotopon Education Trust Fund (DETF), a fund which was guided by a fundamental disquisition that formal education and development of skills at any cost was worth the investment, as education is a sine qua non in the growth of every nation.
I then commissioned the overseas office of the DETF in London. The office was to help link Lamei living abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, with home, and also to help coordinate their efforts to assist the development of the fund. Dr Ashie Opkoti of the Graduate School of Management, London, was made Overseas Coordinator and Director of the office.

[This series is an excerpt from my book. “In the Shadows of Politics” – Reflection from My Mirror. Page 90 - 91]