I've followed the recent preceedings at the vetting committee of  ministers of the new parliament back home closely and I can't help chuckling to myself anytime I think about it as the whole excercise is nothing short of  an "Osofo Dadzie" soap opera which can only happen in a developing  country such as ours, but on a more serious note I personally think this is a learning experience to all us.

I'm not a very learned or well informed man but I think common sense dictates that if you're seeking high office or applying for any responsible government position the onus is on you the applicant to furnish your employers with any certificates or qualifications which the position requires or will improve your chances of clinching the post  and if for any reason you've lost them you can easily request for a copy of your certificates from your old school. Even if the school doesn't give out copies of certificates as some schools will insist, surely they can send you a written letter to confirm your period of study with them and any passes or degrees you acquired through them. You can't just tell a whole vetting committee some sad tale that you lost your certificates through flooding or your house was demolished long time ago and leave them to scratch their heads and expect to clinch the job. I stand to be corrected on this.

I know some of these ministers passed through the hurdle the first time round and went ahead to do some good job so some will argue that they should leave them to carry on or the vetting committee should approve their nominations because you don't need qualifications to be a minister (eg. Krobo Edusei) but what about honesty. decency, intergrity and accountability and why do they have to go to all these lenghts to spin these elaborate stories only to be badly skewered on their own sword in our ever diligent media in the first place if qualications are not neccessary.Thankfully this new administration is trying to correct some of the injustices that happened under it's first term in office and we should all applaud and support them because nothing is more painful than to spend all your life burning the nidnight oil to study hard to get all the qualifications you  need to equip yourself in life only to found your less qualify colleagues or those with bogus certificate get a responsible position over your head because they are politically well conected.  What kind of message are we giving to the youth when we tell them one minute to study hard for their future and the next minute we appoint a minister without any qualifications and who so blatantly lied to the whole country about his qualifications,  I personally think that alone should disqualify such ministers. Will you ever allow some one who failed his teacher training course to the classroom to teach children simply because he is a hard worker and he'll do a good job? In that case what's the essence of good educations then?

I think any minister who doesn't posess the necessary academic qualifications or experience or who is found to have told a few fibs to get a position should do the honourable thing and withdraw his nomination and not cause any further embarrassment to the government and to further refrain from the practice of whipping up sentimental support from the innocent public and coleagues for their selfish ends after all as a member of paliament you can still represent your constituency in the house without being in the cabinet and leave the serious business of cabinet post to those who have the right qualification to do the work and carry the country forward. Imagine a finance minister or a foriegn minister without the necassery academic qualifications who travels abroad to represent his country on the international scene, he'll sit at the conference table with all these foriegn dignitaries who are all experts in  their fields with a big smile on his face and look like an idiot because everything have to be explain to him by his advisors like a little child and he can't really argue for his country's cause because he doesn't have a single clue of his own. 

I'm not arguing that semi-educated ministers can't do a good job but ministers with the right qualification can do much better job so we should always strive to find the right people with right skills for the right job. Let us all allow the honourable Mr Bagbin and his vetting committee to carry on with their brave and good work and come to the right decisions without any hindrance or fear of intimidations from any quarter and also let us all use this opprtunity to lay the enfansis on our childrens education as good education is the only true asset a parent can bequeath to their children in this competitive and  modern world we all inhabits today. 

I've said my own, God bless you'll, thank you.