The wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur, has apologised for berating the headmistress of a school in Kukurantumi for requesting government’s assistance to acquire chalk.
According to the second lady, who was speaking at the 40th Anniversary of the Jack and Jill school in Accra, her response to the headmistress was without malice and she only sought to encourage the members of the community to play an active role in the school.
“The comments I made have been in the media since I made them. When the headmistress asked for chalk, my response was intended to encourage community participation in the school. If I have offended anybody, I take this opportunity to say I am very sorry,” she said.
The Second Lady however charged the media to give her apology equal publicity as they did with her Kukurantumi comments.
“Media I hope you will carry it. You were in “Kukurantumi” and you did all that so media carry it”.
Mrs Amissah-Arthur had responded to the request from the headmistress of Kukurantumi Presby Primary School, Juliet Oppong by saying: “I think we have over pampered you people. Because we have provided free school uniforms so parents don’t even want to buy basic things for their children…I will not give you chalk today, neither will I give it to you tomorrow. You have
teachers; you have the PTA, go and buy chalk for the school.”
Her comments were greeted with widespread criticism from several stakeholders in the educational sector and the largest opposition in the country the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
A statement signed by the NPP’s Women Organiser described the comments as ‘insensitive’ and ‘unacceptable’ while the Eastern Regional Youth Organiser of the party described it as ‘gross disrespect’.
The National Council of PTAs called on the Second Lady to apologise for her comments and it appears the second lady has caved in to the pressure.
An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
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