By Isaac Ato MENSAH
Accra- 19 September, 2018.
At PRESEC there was a school rule that pivoted on truth, logic, virtue and tolerance – or simply put, justice.
It stated, ‘Every breach of common sense is a breach of school rules and regulations’.
As an old boy of PRESEC (Ɔdadeɛ), that is how I understood President Akufo-Addo when he stated last Saturday, ‘Those responsible for the sequence of activities that led to the so called banking crisis…. will face the full brunt of the law if they are found to have broken the law…..It is not right that the overwhelming majority of ordinary Ghanaians should pay for the actions of a greedy few, without sanction’.
He also confirmed that at least GH¢12.7 billion [US$2.7bn; £2bn] has been swallowed up so far as a result of the Ghana banking scandal.
The president was addressing the 80th anniversary of the founding of PRESEC in Legon on Saturday.
The president was made an honorary Old Boy, to wit, an Ɔdadeɛ or baobab – a provider and source of resilience.
An Old Boy is nicknamed Ɔdadeɛ after the baobab tree……..The botanical name Adansonia digitata references each compound leaf usually comprising five leaflets or digits but up to seven digits….Baobab is a corrupted form of the Arabic (būħibāb) which means an Old Boy or old student is expected to be the father of many seeds.
Occasions such as the 80th anniversary of PRESEC can throw up perhaps unwarranted notions of oldboyism, which in its vainest expression is akin to nepotism.
Oldboyism finds its negative expression in helping old friends who attended the same school by intervening (or is it lobbying?) for crimes committed in the banking scandal to be forgiven.
It also finds its despicable expression in calling on our old boy accountants to help prepare financial statements and audit reports that will absolve us of any wrongdoing.
In 1937 when five presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana agreed to contribute 10 thousand pounds to establish the school they certainly did not project that their alumni will behave in such fashion.
The mission of their sponsoring presbyteries was to continue in the spirit of establishing education in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) under the discipline and model guaranteed by the Basel Mission Seminary.
Reverend Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862-1961), acknowledged as the founding father, was the originator of the concept of establishing the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon).
He had received his education at the Basel Mission Seminary in Akropong and in Switzerland.
He later became the first synod clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1932.
Rev. David Martey…..’Beyond Present Pleasures’….’Expository sermon’, 1994.
Since Clerk, Presby secondary education has spread throughout southern Ghana, especially where the Presby church has a foothold.
Given their industry and discipline, Presby trained teachers and students played a significant role in every sector of education in the Gold Coast including government run secondary schools.
This no doubt led partly to the government’s decision to absorb mission schools and the acceptance to pay teachers’ salaries.
Is it a coincidence that on the two occasions that the president has spoken on the Ghana banking scandal, he chose the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) annual conference in Koforidua and the PRESEC 80th anniversary?
Does the answer lie in the fact that one institution places an emphasis on legal education and the other, moral education- both of which are needed to ensure order and discipline in society?
The President’s speech at the GBA meeting has added relevance.
He stated, ‘The story of every bank that has had problems, be they indigenous Ghanaian banks or international banks, like Barings Bank, Lehman Brothers, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, each one can be traced to someone or some people breaking the law, or trying to cut corners by flouting regulations…
It affects everyday life. It’s about breaking rules and regulations in many aspects of our lives, and wanting to, and indeed, circumventing the laws that are meant to guide our society’.
And then of course, the PRESEC motto bears repeating.
It states, ‘In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen.…Latin for….’In Thy Light We Shall See Light’ – Psalm 36:9.
We honour the memory of The Reverend Nicholas Timothy Clerk (May his soul rest in perfect peace), the vision and industry of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Basel Missionaries.
We laud them on the “Prussian discipline” that they introduced into and propagated in our Ghanaian society.
Is the Presbyterian light a solution- and the “Prussian discipline” – a useful path or paradigm for resolving and preventing any banking scandal?
As Ghanaians, are we ready to apply commonsense and maintain the last vestiges of “the old time religion” bequeathed to us by our forebears?
Or will it be double talk and obfuscation – business as usual?
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