Red flags have been raised over a well-publicised event by old students of Mfanstipim School and the head of the Methodist Church, the Most Reverend Emmanuel K Asante, is being called to offer an explanation.
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The suspicion is that some Ghanaian politicians are trying to use the Mfanstipim Old Boys Association (MOBA) to score some cheap political points.
A petition sighted by “The Herald” from a concerned member of MOBA, Ekow Nkrumah is raising strong objection to a programme which sorts to shortlist and award, some old boys of Mfanstipim School in the Central Region, who are said to have distinguished themselves in their fields of endeavours.
They include, Tsatsu Tsikata, Philip Addison, Alex Quaynor and Frank Davies for their roles during the Election Petition hearing at the Supreme Court. Kwabena Agyepong, the NPP General Secretary is also to be recognized for his performance as politician.
But the selection, has been described as lopsided and some of the awardees as undeserving of the honours.
The petitioner is worried that the organizers, have allowed a subcommittee group known as MOBA Development Committee, to award individuals who are perceived to be coming from a certain political divide.
Mr. Nkrumah is, therefore, asking the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, who doubles as Chairman of Mfantsipim Board of Governors, Rev. Emmanuel Asante, to use his good office to intervene and if possible halt the programme, which has infuriated some old boys who are threatening to boycott an otherwise laudable programme.
Below is the full petition as presented to the Rev. Asante by Mr. Nkrumah, a member of the MOBA 1973 group.
Open letter to the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana on Mfantsipim affairs
Reverend Sir,
I am constrained after several fruitless attempts to get a hearing on the matters I wish to raise with you to adopt this open letter method. This is because even though the matters I am about to complain of have received wide and negative publicity, and several MOBA year groups have protested, nothing has been done to ameliorate the situation.
I am talking about the widely-publicised upcoming MOBA fundraising dinner dance and awards night slated for Friday, 22nd August, 2014, that is, a few days hence.
The reason I chose you to be the recipient of these concerns of mine are twofold. First the organisers of this event claim to be members of some inchoate MOBA Development Committee which happens to be a subcommittee of the Mfantsipim Board of Governors which you respectfully chair. In other words, all activities herein under are being done with your express support and encouragement and that of the school board.
Second, Mfantsipim, with its sister school, Wesley Girls’ High School, both in Cape Coast, are perhaps the most valuable heirlooms of the church in Ghana, and you, as head of the church, are the only person, who can call all of us to order, past and present students, in order that the aims of the church in founding these institutions would be pursued to the glory of His kingdom.
Some of us do not even understand why this annual event of fundraising for the school has been brought forward from its usual October date. No explanation has so far been offered for this break with our proud traditions.
The idea of awarding selected old boys, though laudable, has attracted the most negative reaction from old boys in and outside Ghana for valid reasons which may not have been brought to your attention. Everybody is wondering why no nominations were made, for instance in the fields of scientific and technological innovation and achievement, which fields has seen significant contributions from old boys.
In addition, some of us are very worried that the areas selected and the awardees, betray a certain disdain for the democratic system of governance this country is running. Whose idea was it to celebrate the lawyers who are old boys who took leading roles in the election petition last year? While all agree with the selection of Tsatsu Tsikata and Philip Addison, the addition of Alex Quaynor and Frank Davies tilt the awards unjustifiably towards the petitioners who in fact lost the petition, suggesting that our school be linked to failed court schemes to win an election. There would be no disagreement if awarding lawyers of excellence included the name of the versatile Ace Ankomah but not Frank Davies.
Even worse is the extremely annoying choice of Kwabena Agyepong for the field of politics. Reverend Sir, the inclusion of politics itself is most unwise, and the choice is an outrage. What about the Vice President of the republic, His Excellency Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, or Hon. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, or Hon Barton Oduro the First Deputy Speaker, or the Second Deputy Speaker, Hon. Joe Ghartey, all of whom are on a higher pedestal in our politics?
Reverend Sir, this year’s event threatens to be boycotted by several old boys because of these things I have pointed out. But something can be done. I respectfully suggest you use your authority to postpone the event to October, and then meet MOBA National and year group representatives to reconstitute the so-called development committee now involved in awards-giving, and fashion out a programme that would command the undivided support of all of us, and lift the name of Mfantsipim higher.
I am, your humble servant
Ekow Nkrumah, MOBA 1973