The
president, H. E Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo made a heartwarming statement when he announced at the state burial
of Hon. C. K Tedam in Paga that the Navrongo campus of university for
development studies will be renamed “C. K Tedam University for Technology and
Applied Sciences” when the processes are complete through parliament.
In
fact, since this pronouncement, there has been a number of arguments and
counter arguments about the appropriateness of the decision and whether C.K Tedam
really deserves such an honor.
It’s unfortunate that, we can sometimes
unnecessarily politicize and misplaced issues that could have brought unity and
development to country. The UDS is a university that belongs to the region and
Ghana as a whole and any statesman could have been renamed after it.
H. E Nana Addo is coming from an unbiased point and
sees it very fitting to honour a personality who has distinguished himself in
service to his people and Ghana.
Fortunately for the Kassena land, Abavana and C.K Tedam
are sons of the same locality who captured the “eyes” of the NPP as
statesmen who deserved state burial and this should be seen by all Ghanaians as
an unbiased move that can bring peace and development to the country. H. E Nana
Addo definitely knows who’s a statesman and to think that C.K Tedam is not a
statesman is unfortunate.
It
must be clear that, for developmental purposes, Ghanaians must distinguish
clearly the difference between development and politics. Abavana has been paid his due by several
halls and houses in schools across the country that have been named after him. This
include Abavana house at NAVASCO, St John Bosco’s College of Education, and UDS
etc.
H.E.
Nana Addo has very good reasons why he named the university after C.K Tedam. C.K
Tedam has made immerse contributions during his days in politics to NPP and
Ghana to an extend that he has a personal hand in contributing to the current
state of UDS but unfortunately passed on at a time UDS is in process to become autonomous.
I am of the view that, this write up should be an
appeal /reminder to H. E Nana Addo that, the same government at one time
honored a statesman in the same locality and therefore, they are reminded to
put it on record that, the next institution could be named after him. This
hopefully will promote peace and development.
We should be circumspect in all we do about nation
building so that we can forge ahead as a united people. If any person from Upper
East Region could be renamed after UDS, what prevents late C.K Tedam?
I believe the NPP government and H. E Nana Addo
have done enough research and genuine reasons why the late C.K Tedam should be
honored at this time and any Ghanaian of good faith should accept that.
C.K Tedam and Abavana are united by locality,
language and culture and were both honored by NPP as statesmen. It’s therefore
not the duty of anyone to dispute the honor given to these personalities.
We thank H. E Nana Addo for recognizing C.K Tedam’s
selfless works and devotion towards his people and Ghana and we will only
humbly want to remind him to put it on record that Abavana could also be named
after an institution in the future.
This is the way to maintain the people of Paga and
Navrongo together who have been united under one district until 2006 when that government
carve out Kassena-Nankana West District out of then Kassena-Nankana district.
By Concerned Citizen from the Kassena Land: Richard W. Alogitega
The views expressed in this opinion are entirely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views and opinions of A1 Radio or www.a1radioonline.com.
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