The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon Otiko Afisah Djaba got former President, Jerry John Rawlings upstanding with high admiration for the Minister for delivering a powerful and attitude-shaping speech at the Mamfe Methodist Girls Senior High School.
The Former President who earlier declined to speak at the event, got himself behind the pulpit, took the microphone, and openly said “the Hon Gender Minister has really inspired me and now I feel better to make a few remarks”.
Rawlings’ open admission of an excellence delivery of speech by Ms. Otiko Afisah Djaba attracted an endless applause from the large gathering of students, chiefs and heads of educational institutions.
The former President added his voice to the clarion call by Hon Otiko Djaba on Ghanaians especially the young people to maintain discipline and contribute to the development of Ghana as patriotic citizens.
Mr. Rawlings narrated when he was a pilot flying a plane through a village and saw how greener and beautiful some parts of the area was and decided to draw closer only to realise those areas were schools. This, he stressed showed how discipline students were at schools in those days but queried why the situation was different in the Ghanaian communities now.
Mr. Rawlings touched on how filth continued to engulf the nation as a result of growing indiscipline among the citizens.
He bemoaned how chiefs, community leaders and the youth of Ghana were shelving their responsibilities towards the development of the nation.
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon Otiko Djaba who is noted of delivering inspiring speeches at different functions, received a standing ovation and a handshake from President Akufo-Addo and the Outgoing President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for delivering a similar powerful speech a the launch of the Gender and Development Initiative for Africa (GADIA) on November 14, 2017.
This time round Hon. Otiko Djaba was at the 4th Speech and Prize-Giving Day celebration of the Mamfe Girl SHS in the Eastern Region to represent the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The event was under the theme: ” Discipline; a Prerequisite for Academic Excellence, Stakeholders Take”.
The Minister encouraged the students to be more disciplined, stay away from early sex, teenage pregnancy and peer influence. Hon. Otiko Djaba charged them to study hard and never drop out of school.
