SHS BEDS FOR SALE

Jane Opoku Agyemang, Education Minister

By Christian Kpesese

It may sound unbelievable but it is true and it is happening on the campus of Tema Senior High School (TEMASCO).

 Parents are being asked to pay GHC 400.00 (Four hundred Ghana Cedis) per student per bed in addition to other unbearable fees.

This means that school authorities are collecting GHC 800.00 (Eight hundred Ghana Cedis) for a double decker bed.

According to angry parents who visited the office of The Insight, no receipts are issued for the payments.

Independent investigations carried out by The Insight indicate that the double decker beds are sold on the open market for between GHC 500.00 (Five hundred Ghana Cedis) and GHC 700.00 (Seven hundred Ghana Cedis).

When contacted, the headmistress of the school Ms Elizabeth A. Asare said the school only acted to protect the interest of the parents who she claimed were resolute to have their wards in the boarding house.

According to her, even though the Girls dormitory of the school has been oversubscribed with no beds, some parents still pleaded for their children to be housed in the school.

The school`s management she said then advised the parents to team up and contribute to the purchase of the double beds from latex foam to enable the school squeeze the students into the crowded dormitory.

She threatened to withdraw all the affected students from the boarding house to become day students if parents kept accusing her for charging unapproved bed levies.

Editorial

A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY

In our view a democratic society is one which has managed to abolish privilege and therefore one in which all citizens are truly equal before the law.

 It is for this reason that The Insight insists that Ghana is not yet a democratic society even as it sheepishly tries to copy what happens in the United States of America and other western states.

 How come that poor and hunger ravaged villagers who steal only a few tubers of yam are sent to jail for many months and the well educated and so-called responsible officials who steal millions of cedis are left off the hook?

Not too long ago, the son of a very big man was caught with narcotic substances and so much noise was made about it.

 In the end he walks home with smiles and over his face because like other privileged children, he cannot be punished.

 P.C Appiah- Ofori alleges that at a certain time, majority members of Parliament took a bribe of US $5,000.00 each and nothing happens.

 We shall continue to insist that until all citizens are treated equally before the law, there can be no talk of democracy in Ghana.

MADURO

Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan President

By Z.C. Dutka

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro announced his approval of a workers’ proposal to increase the minimum wage by 15% starting December 1st.

The new wage will be 4,889 bolivars per month (US$776 at the official exchange rate of 6.3)

This marks the third hike in salaries approved in 2014, making the current minimum wage 64.5% higher than at the start of the year. However, this latest announcement brings workers’ salaries just above the rate of inflation, which reached 63.4% during that same period.

An additional adjustment to the denominator used to calculate food tickets, which are mandatorily issued by employers and used like cash at most major supermarkets, increases workers’ access to items hardest hit by inflation.

The adjustment raises the allotment from 0.5 UT to 0.75 UT, which converts to about 95 bolivars (U$15) daily for food.

The measures come just before the holiday season, whereupon employers are obligated to pay three months wages as an end-of-year bonus.

Last week’s launching of the Happy Christmas 2014 Plan dovetails into the government’s economic strategy to improve affordability of key items and stimulate the consumption of nationally-produced products featured at nationwide fairs in preparation for the holidays.

A special commission of Economic Intelligence, also announced yesterday, will now permit three government bodies which preside over customs, criminal intelligence, and commerce (Seniat, SEBIN, and Cencoex, respectively), to share information in continued efforts to combat speculation, hoarding, and other activities Maduro has dubbed “economic warfare.”

“This war is silent, those who cause the damage are hidden…” said Maduro. “The bourgeoisie emerges, smiling, to explain that the socialist model has failed, but [while] they are below- mining the road, we are above it, overcoming the obstacles.”

This morning, nearly US$450 million dollars were allotted to 313 companies at the preferential rate of 12 bolivars to the dollar, in a massive effort to provide importers with enough resources to combat scarcity. The receiving companies were primarily importers of automobiles and car parts, construction materials, home appliances, medicines, and paper products.

Workers’ Bank and Collective Contracts

During yesterday’s event, Maduro also signed an act which implements a commission for the discussion of collective contracts for public administrative workers.

The document was written and upheld by the Workers’ Social Process minister, Jesus Martinez, the president of the National Federation of Workers in the Public Sector, Franklin Rondon, and the vice minister of social planning, Lidice Altuye.

Meanwhile, the Bicentenary Bank, formed in 2009 by the merging of three nationalized banks, has been absorbed by a new initiative called the Bicentenary Bank for the Venezuelan Working Class.

The 536 currently functioning agencies will now offer specific services directed at clients earning the minimum wage and their families, including high-yield savings accounts. The worker’s bank is also meant to accelerate applications for housing credits.

The Venezuelan leader closed the ceremony after highlighting official data which indicates current unemployment rates are at the lowest they’ve been for 40 years.