[ 2011-09-26 ]

Kwesi Pratt Jnr

Mills’ “free school uniforms” speech to UN disappointing - Pratt
Kwesi Pratt Junior, Managing Editor of The Insight
newspaper has faulted President Mills’ Address
to the United Nations General Assembly as
unimpressive because it lacked global context.

The president’s address, he said, was more
fitting for a forum such as parliament and “not
for a UN General Assembly.”

Pratt, a discussant on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and
Alhaji programme, pointed out on Saturday that
“The United Nations is a world platform where
you go and mobilize the world,… on issues and so
on.

“What are we saying at the United Nations – We
have eliminated schools under trees, we are
distributing free exercise books, we are
distributing free school uniforms and so on. What
has it got to do with the United Nations? So to be
honest with you, even though the issues the
president raised are critical to the development
of Ghana, they are issues not worth the attention
they received at the UN General Assembly.”

Pratt said on his way to the programme, the radio
station was playing some speeches of Ghana’s
First President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and it
made such a difference.

“Something is wrong with the speechwriters of
the President, something is wrong with our foreign
ministry, and something is wrong with developing a
global perspective and I think we should say it as
it is. I am not impressed with this speech, at
all.”

Kwesi Pratt, who continued that he felt
uncomfortable with President Mills’ speech to
the Assembly, also pointed out that compared to
the speeches of people like Bolivian President Evo
Morales, they received greater attention because
they discussed the problems of the world.

“Now you compare the speech that our President
gave, to speeches delivered by people like Evo
Morales and see the world attention, see how they
grabbed world attention and so on. Because they
are discussing the world, they are discussing the
problems of the world and how they see the world,
we didn’t. We went there we were talking about
free textbooks, free exercise books, free school
uniforms, schools under trees and so on, I was not
impressed at all.”

Kwesi Pratt agreed with President Mills that the
organisation of free and fair elections in Ghana
is important because if we fail, we risk pushing
the nation to the brink of catastrophe, and it is
therefore “absolutely important. But why the
UN?”

While he also agreed that the supply of free
school uniforms is a major social intervention, he
did not agree that the forum was appropriate when
the world is today “confronted with the
bellicosity of imperialism,” when the United
Nations has become something in the back pocket of
the United States of America and when the US is
killing hundreds of thousands of people across the
globe on the basis of disclosures found in
Wikileaks.

“What is the stand of Ghana? Do we mean that we
have no stand? Are we afraid of the United States
of America? Are we afraid of the imperialist
powers? What is wrong with us?”

“Look at the bellicosity of imperialism, look at
the ravaging, ravaging recklessness of imperialism
and so on, and we go and talk about free school
uniforms. It’s incredible. I must say with all
honesty that I was not impressed with this speech.
One of the key issues being decided in the United
Nations, is whether or not the Palestinians are
entitled or should be given a seat in the UN, this
is a crucial issue and it’s an issue of national
liberation. Why? You declare Founder’s Day in
Ghana, what is Founder’s Day? What makes
Founder’s Day so relevant and so on if not our
commitment to national liberation, our commitment
to the struggle against colonialism?..."

Source - MyjoyOnline

... go Back