PUTTING OUR SCRAPS TO GOOD USE

After staying off this platform for so long, I am here again to make a harmless suggestion, hoping it will not give me any problems as the last one on "Okada" did. Permit me to comment on the strike by some driver organization(s) on Monday, June 1, 2015 leading to the arrest of about 33 of them, who, according to the police violated some laws of Ghana. As a political communicator and a law student, friends called to ask me why the police arrested the drivers. In the view of my friends which I know is the view of all Ghanaians including myself, the drivers had a right to demonstrate. What we fail to realize most of the time is that, rights go with responsibilities. Their right to demonstrate required them to have notified the police, five (5) clear days at least, before the event; in which case the police would have a duty to ensure their security. So as stated by McRuer, ....right is precisely defined, given and protected by law. But in all these, the drivers have some point just the same way the policy makers have same. We cannot continue experiencing motor accidents on our roads everyday. We cannot submit to the naivety and rudeness of some uneducated drivers on our roads everyday. It has to end at a point. Question is, must it be radical? NO,,,,No need for a radical approach. There must be a converging point for policy makers and the drivers towards the safety of all of us; road users. On this note, I wish to draw the attention of all stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Transport, DVLA and the Road Safety Division to the existence of the only state institution established for the purposes of adult literacy: Non-Formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education. Due to lack of logistics and materials, this division of highly trained, though poorly motivated staff are almost redundant. The maintenance of old and unreliable classes, is for the sake of keeping one's job. The personnel are waiting for work to do. In the current dispensation where the driver is required to acquire some reading, writing and arithmetic/computer skills as an adult, it falls within the ambiance of their operations as providers of adult literacy. Non-Formal Education (NFE) has been doing this training of adults without interfering with the trade of learners for years. There are records to show and individuals all over the country to testify. I will therefore suggest through my small post box to my Hon. Minister of Transport, Hon. Minister of Education, DVLA, NRSD and the Driver Unions to collaborate with Non-Formal Education to put together a 21 month well structured, full cycle Driver Education Module that will benefit the drivers and their mates greatly at little or no cost to them. Non-Formal has the personnel to train our drivers and their mates in any Ghanaian language and top it up with English language if the learner so desires. Currently, some cocoa companies have employed this almost free service of NFE to educate their farmers in the appropriate use of modern trends in cocoa production. I am reliably informed that the companies have not regretted engaging them. Humbly, I entreat stakeholders in this DVLA/Drivers impasse to engage the NFE to bring this to an eternal closure.