Commentary, News

Let us show respect to our leaders and the dead; Hudu Yahaya writes

Please let us show respect to our leaders and the dead. Education is not only about acquiring certificates from schools or sitting in the classroom. JJ was of the equivalent rank of Captain before June 4th, ‘79. The documents that would’ve passed in front of him which needed him to take decisions on as well as as the international conferences he attended to make informed decisions about the country and on the world and which he did for decades would have been enough to earn him more than some of the paper qualifications some of us (including myself) are carrying about yet we write and speak faulty English; not capable of leading even small organizations.

The Prime Minister of the UK, who succeeded Margaret Thatcher in November 1990, was John Major, who never went beyond O’levels and was rather an accomplished banker. President Rawlings was a distinguished fighter pilot in his chosen field in the Ghana Armed Forces and a distinguished soldier. He was the best fighter pilot in his intake group during his training and won the Speed Bird Trophy. He was also not just a fighter pilot but served in a specialized area of the fighter squadron, i.e., the recognizance area, which is more of intelligence wing of the fighter squadron Even as Head of State he used to fly as part of the fighter squadron of the Ghana Air Force in the night to Liberia to do reconnaissance flights to support the Ghanaian troops who were on the ECOMOG mission during the Civil War in both intelligence and cover. I’ve met a former military head of state and a respected retired General of the largest country in Africa outside Ghana. After we exchanged courtesies, he asked me, ‘How is the General?’ I replied, please, who do you mean? He replied, ” General Rawlings.” I then replied that he was doing well. In other words, Rawlings had more than qualified for the rank of a General, but he refused it and stuck to his old rank of Flight Lieutenant (Flt. Lt.) but military Generals in Africa and around the world respected him and addressed a General because they knew he was more than qualified for it.

All who served under him in both the military and in government and all those who had dealt with him in other various aspects of life knew he was a very intelligent man, well exposed and very well read; he was more than an average person. Also let’s not continue to deceive ourselves about the military and police; a good number of them hold various academic degrees and professional qualifications which they prefer not to disclose.

Now, even a number of Master’s degree programmes of the University of Ghana are being affiliated to the courses run at the Staff College of the Ghana Armed Forces.