Have the national awards been cheapened?
June 24, 2008
The release of the final list of 241 distinguished Ghanaians to be given awards for outstanding services to the nation,has generated a huge debate on the Value of the awards.
Ghanaians debate as to whether the awards are indeed honourable or cheap due to the inclusion of some names to the list.
President Kuffour is expected to be honoured in a new category for President’s while the NPP flag bearer Nana Akuffo Addo has also been added to the same category as the former Vice President Prof Mills.
The list which has also grown to include all ministers under the NPP administration and some in the past administration also includes comedians, actors and media practitioners.
While some believe that not all those short listed deserve the awards since their life and works has not been exemplary and extraordinary, others believe the mere numbers and blanket awards to ministers also cheapens the award.
Many respondents to a JOYNEWS voxpop however say the shortlisted personalities deserve the awards.
So what do you think?
Have the national awards been cheapened by the numbers of people listed and the
categories outlined?
Post your comments here……..…
Comments
41 Responses to “Have the national awards been cheapened?”
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i so not think the inclusion of several others cheapens the national awards, well if a comedian in his field of comedy excells as much as a minister in his ministerial position then whoof the two doesn’t deserve the award.
I am very much surprise with some personalities mentioned so far. I don’t want to mention names but If I is true as mentioned in this article that the list include all ministers under the NPP administration then to me it is very unfortunate. A second look should be considered.
Indeed the awards have been cheapened. How else do we explain giving national honors to corrupt and inept ministers? And why 241 awards? I may as well stand in line to receive one next year just for the sake of it.
i cannot uderstand the wholesale award of such magnitude.infact for now i can say that , the national award which should have been given to person who have distinguished themselves and have raise the banner of the nation but as it is now the award in my view has lost it value and i donot thinck it should be accepted at all
i have not seen anybody awarding himself apart from the corrupt leaders like eyadema of blessed memory his likes.
the president creating and awarding himsefl without being recognised by the good people of ghana smarks of arrogance to put it blankly
If names like those workers who are toiling in our streets all in the name of zoomlion and national youth employment come up,will their awards makes the whole thing cheap?We should be interested in the criteria used in drawing the list and not the number of people selected.We have made politicians and those who has gained fame think they are the only people sacrifing for Ghana and the rest of us are just spectators.
If it is possible, I would advocate that the awards be suspended till next year by which time, we would have put in place an award committee that could do a better job of assesing prospeective receipieentsssss. How do you award a minister after firing him/her aafter a few months on the job? I hope we are not having a lame duck president in an election year. Please Mr. President, this is the time for you to leave a REAL MARK of presidency.
Hello Kojo,you see,people who receive respected awards such as this award should be people whom are not associated with any bad actions,whether true or not.there are certain things which should not be spoken about such people,but from what is happening,i think there are some people on the list like the NPP ministers who leave a lot to be desired in terms of what we hear about them.from what i have written,let us analyse the situation and find out if the national awards have been cheapened.great day.
how can a sitting president decide to award himself and therefore it is true that the award is cheapened because his number has added to the increase
I think we should call it the KUFFUOR ROLL CALL and not a National Award. The President has just ridiculed himself at long last by deciding to award himself. Does salt praise itself? If he has been a good president as his praise singers have tried to make us believe then he should let the masses honor him.
The National Awards might loose its significance if the current mode of selection process is allowed to pass.
I must say that I was at my wits end trying to fathom how Egya Koo cam4e to be nominated for National Award. Any decent person watcing this man’s commicks on our Televisions will not miss the acid tongue of Egya koo. The man is so vulgar he can’t string two sentences together without being insulting. Is that what we want our children to emulate?
What about those shameless Journalist who only sing the praises of the ruling government who have been nominated? what creteria was used? and what about those Ministers some of whom were sacked from Office? Somebody shd just explain to me what creterial is used in selecting recipients of National Awards
Hi Kojo
I think the awards has broutht so much controvercy and more confusion than expected,In my view it should be cancelled for peace to prevail in Ghana.
lydia, china
Kojo I think NPP and their president is really dividing this country and it scars me because of Africa’s history of upheavals what is the reason for putting Nana Addo the same order of star division as the vice president and former vice president and all the non-performing ministers and sacked ministers and some deputy ministers such as Honer-Sam etc when there serveral public and civil servants who have served this country and still serving this country in serveral capacity but not being honoured eeh! Ghana! NPP has become so complacent and arrogant. This nonsense must stop ooooooh! Are we really in a democracy when NPP gets to do whatever they want to do and get away with it
To the contrary.
I rather feel very sorry for those who say they wouldn’t take the award because all manner of people have been nominated and therefore the award is been cheapened. They should first tell us that they themselves do not deserve the awards. It is the same people, and people of their ilk, who sometime ago described the NPP as elitists party. Now when people of lower caste, who have excelled in their fields of endeavor are been recognized, they shout, but this time not from “roof tops”, that it is an award for the boys. They should continue to complain, Ghana will move on.
Say it the way it is. Paliamentarians are corrupt, politicians are corrupt. They need to start paying for thier own gas and car. since they make more money and have access to all kind of loans. So that the gas they use can be used to pick kids to school. I hate Ghanaian politicians period.
Kojo, The order of the ster-member categories are all NPP formal chairmen. Why should the president nominate himself & all his minister for choping our money. This is a disgrace to the nation. this is roll call.God bless GHANA.
Hi kojo,
Indeed the awards have been cheapened. God bless Ghana.
I believe the awards have ceased to be national awards and should not be named accordingly. If a party can pressurize or influence who gets an award or not then it has failed in its mandate.
Kojo, Are we not supposed to pay for lectures due to the full cost recovery policies in Ghana ?
But what do we see now, the whole nation is in the Law school and enjoying free Law lectures…………And Guess who is the Professor.
Tsatsu Tsikata.
Have a Goodmorning.
kojo ,how can the president award himself? of late the president been noted for commiting blunders.he needs to adviced. may I know who is going to hand the award to him.
Kojo, Mr kuffour himself knows that the awards have been cheaping that is why he has craeted another awards. it is a shame. God bless our mother land Ghana
Asabee cant look at our face and tell us lies, the award is just for the boys. what has
Awuni done to deserve an award is it not the President who said during the npp presidential raise that all those ministers who he has sacked are not good what has happened now. Asabee ,just talked about some people killed some 25 years ago and he comes on air and talks about we are all one people.hypocrites
Thank God for freedom of speech.
at least these things do not happen in Ghana frequently, so look at it form this point , citizens are being recognised for something , isn’t that a step forward?
God Bless Ghana.
am so ashamed of myself!!i cant tell my colleagues at work am proud to be a GHANAIAN again!!HOW CAN A SITTING PRESIDENT NOMINATE HIMSELF FOR AN AWARD—-EVEN IF ITS A COMMITTEE THAT DID THIS , ITS SIMPLY NOT FAIR!!
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS AND ROBERT MOGABE?
ITS AS WEL AS SAYING, TAKE YOUR VIEWS, LET ME TAKE MY AWARD!! GHANA THEN–NO AWARDS, GHANA NOW—241 PEOPLE FOR AWARDS!!
The national awards have been cheapened for sure and I just can’t understand the criteria for nominating people for the awards. Kojo, I will like to ask the question; what have Andy Awuni, Randy Abbey, Kwami Sefa Kayi, Kweku Baaku, Gyina Blay, Minister Anane and other ministers done for this our mother Ghana to deserve awards. Again, how can Malik Kweku Baaku be nominated and his colleague Kwesi Pratt not be nominated.
I really hate to say this but I do think that the President and the committee that sat to produce this list of nominees have got it all wrong.
kojo
i think mr koffour need to be adviced he does not know anything
concerning the national award how can some one serve thse country for only 2 or 3 yrs then will be rewarded , even you , u are doing great but i think they are more senior men in the industry who need it than u do and i dont think obour the musician and agya koo what ever the name is deserve it you know we have people like ck man ,ampadu and others there who i think they deserve it
so please let the president know we are not happy about the proceding about these award ok
Yes, I think the national awards have been seriously compromised this time around with the wholesale inclusion of people whose only achievement is that they have been given the opportunity to serve. To cap it all, the creation of a new award category and bestowing to himseld an award in this category shows poor judgment, to say the least. Indeed it is scandalous!.
It has been cheapened to the last point that, I think they should EVEN add all NPP party sympatisers and Cocaine Dealers.
Hello Kojo,
Mr. Ohene Adgyekum has surprisinginly become a war monger . Please Kojo you should have told him that his claims were dashed by the findings of the EC’S Committee that investigated the matter to the satisfaction of Ghanaians. The dominance of the NPP in the Ashanti Region can never be dented . If I were Ohehe Adgyekum, I’d rather appeal to any non-NDC members instead He ought to be called to order.
Am of the view that the national award has been cheaped by the president.
how can a president who sack Hon. Kwamena Bartels for incompetent is now awarding him,is it for his incompetency or what?
again if you look at the list finding names like Agya KOO, Hon. Anane etc it realy make the award lost it`s integrity
nobody is saying that people who excelled in their fields of endeavor should not honour, far from that!indeed, a nation is not worth dying for if it does not honour its heroes, they say. with this saying, Ghana is worth dying for because she is honouring her heroes for rendering a meritorious service to the nation. it pains my heart the extent to which this year awards be politicized that there is no iota of honour attached to the awards again. it is not worth aspiring for such an award in the future, for the awards have lost its value and gritter.this is not a party awards but a national awards.let us get serious! the awards are treated like end of services awards to members of the particular govt,all right thinking people should muster courage to condemn in no uncertain terms the national awards being turned to party awards. no matter how the president would defend the idea of awarding himself, it is not right and the idea should be dropped!
Mr President please take a second look at your list again, this is not a speech and prize giving day please!!!!!!!!! this is a national award and its suppose to go to people who have really distinguished themselves in selfless ways for the nation not for your government.
today is the day for the award. well the president does not want to listen to the good people of ghana, so be it. am surprise at the long list for the award, the highest award has been cheapened. the president should be ashamed of himself for the award. i actually thought those who started gospel music would be part of the list but what did we see nothin for them.
i wish the president would thingk again before giving the award to those he thinks deserves it, i dont think they all deserve the award. hmmmmmmm anyway that is it a country where anybody can do what he/she wants. the president is internationally doing this.
To say it’s been cheapened will be an understatement. It’s been made more than cheap!
TRULY SPEAKING, THE NATIONAL AWARDS HAVE BEEN CHEAPENED AND VERY BIAS. IS THE PREZ TELLING GHANAIANS THAT NANA AKUFO-ADDO DESWEARVES THE SAME AWARD WITH THE VICE PREZ, AND THOSE DISTINGUISHED CHIEFS AND ENEN THE NDC FLAGBEARER? IS THE PREZ TELLING GHANAIANS THAT NANA AKUFO- ADDO WORKED HARDER THAN ALL THE OTHER MINISTERS? IS THE PREZ TELLING GHANAIANS THAT GINA BLAY, HARUNA ATTA, RANDY ABBEY ANMD A LOT MORE DESERVE AN AWARD AHEAD OF THE REOUNED AND CELEBRATED JOURNALIST KWESI PRATT? IF DON’T WANT TO GO ON AND ON………. GHANAIANS CAN DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES. GOOD DAY
i cant belive this, mr president took the award; what a shame. the award is realy cheap. why cant he wait for the good people of ghana to award him. i dont think most of the award winners deseves it. hmmmmmmmmmmmm what a country.
i have lost respect for Kuffour he should know better, this is modern day dictatorship. i bet u i agree with Rawlings when he made the comparism between mugabe and kuffour. i think it is a shame for him and the development of Ghana. just Eight years and u award yourself and cronies. Shame kuffour leave and let others or the next government acknowledge u for your contributions to the nation. Listern Bush should Award himself for leading the fight on TERROR. Once again shame on Kuffour I thought you were an example to the rest of the continent but i have lost respect for u. Alhaji grusah even hard an award. that was a shame to the image of Ghana and i believe this is nothing more than dictatorship. thank u.
it is indeed a farewell gift from the president!
Obvious this is one award you cant use for anything. it has been cheapened. It is simple: the only way to cheapen a commodity is to produce more. And that is exactly what has happened. We have a situation whereby a national awrd cannot be distinguished from ACRAG award. If you excel as a comedian, ACRAG awards you, if you excel as a journalist GJA awards you etc The only way you should be given a national award is to have contributed quantifiably to the national development. there should be a clear criteria known to every one. Points should be awarded based on the weight of the criterion.
Yes the awards have been cheapened. I perfectly support the idea of hunouring our heroes and heroines. But this must be done with some level of circumspection. The fact that someone serves as a minister doesn’t mean that he/she should be awarded. That amount to celebrating mediocrity. Let’s ask what has Mr A or B done to deserve an award. The number clearly tells that some awardees do not deserve it. I am happy the minority leader says he is only serving in his capacity as a minority leader and doesn’t think that alone is enough to earn him the highest award of the land. So much sense for this non performing NPP and their sycophantic media men and the coffee shop Mafia.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!