SECOND SEMESTER

Campus. In front of commonwealth hall. A howling cacophony of discordant noises, an exquisite scene of impressive stream of students. Most of them were attired in red presumably emphasizing the urgency of their meeting. Some were holding placards on which were written witty yet grave maxims. Others make reference to the falling standards of education. The debasement of our cultural values, indiscipline. Corruption, immorality and on a positive note an exultation to all students to study hard. In the forefront were Julius, Elva, Kwame and Michael. Each one of them had prepared a short note to deliver. For now their friendship have metamorphosed in to a kind of predictable fraternity. And most of their ardent followers were beginning to know them better and understand and appreciate their enthusiastic efforts.


Beneath the shady boughs and majestic towers of Legon, I sit and weep when I see the falling standards of education getting no better but growing from bad to worse. Where are we heading towards, what is our fate, when the very essence of life, the vital force that propel us to achieve and accomplish whatever noble ideals we dream of is soiled with the filth of retrogression. Where do we stand, what is our stance when the very institution, the solemn towers of edification and enlightenment which is supposed to assist us to advance and progress and to make us understand the world better is debased, regarded as a fashionable place for any one to stroll? In the name of education which they hardly understand. People from all walks of life come to the hill of knowledge to acquire a high standard of education. And rather worsen their predicament. But no matter how bad a situation may be, we can still change it for the better. There let us understand that we the human beings in Legon constitute Legon and not the towers.


When we hear the adage that knowledge is power and education is the key, we naively relegate those outside the precincts of formal education to the doldrums, the nadir of primitivism, and the lowermost echelons of dire ignorance. The impression created is that such a person, wallowing in a muddy puddle outside the academic walls is naturally ignorant, and does not deserve serious consideration. This vicious perception ingrained in the minds of students is erroneous. It is not true that when you did not enter the classroom you are doomed, for a person may enter the classroom only to come out as an ignoramus nincompoop, a disgrace to the institution of education, a social canker a venomous burden on society. The judicious self-educated shadow would also emerge from his secret sanctum with his intellectually challenging questions. What about those who have entered the classroom, the heroes who have traversed the corridors of the academy, those who have read everything that Shakespeare wrote and Amos tutuola. Those who have plunged into the realm of the intellect and possess the key, open sesame on their lips. They come out with their long speeches and big words, which in the words of Ayi Kwei Armah they haven’t finish learning their meanings to solve the problems confronting the society. but in the end, we see them not only cheating and corrupting the society they are supposed to help, but shaking its very foundation. Nevertheless, the humble servants of nature are always savagely lampooned, and the intellectuals conceal their ignorance by holding the pen while the nation, the hill of knowledge collapses.

It is intriguingly ironic and incomprehensibly paradoxical that, the very people that our elders say are receiving higher standards of education, those they illusively believe they are propelling to greater heights, the highest level possible, the brilliant students they place their hopes and proclaim with certainty and pride that are future leaders. These future leaders complete their studies here in Legon, and travel outside where they are inundated into slavery. They acquire degrees here to do the lowest work in the world. Be pitiable slaves. They claim that, after acquiring their degrees from Legon, neither Legon nor Ghana can pay them sufficiently for the services they will render. They simply cannot make it here in Ghana with their university education. The poor country, the squalid conditions in which they received their education instead of them to use they education they have acquired to address the problems which keeps on worsening because of their visionless and lackadaisical altitude, their cant and hypocrisy, they desert the institution with degrees which when one is able to garner can tackle the very problem they are running from. they desert the poor country to others develop. What an irony, they use the resources of this country to learn to help other nations. So that they will grow from strength to strength so that we can sink into retrogression.

These ungrateful wretches, they are educated at the expense of the nation and they rise up against it we educate people to destroy us, to degrade the nation, to cheat and cripple and humiliate it. To corrupt and dehumanize the few people we have. The leaning towers train students to turn the nation upside down.


Julius was enraptured and enthused when it reached his turn to deliver his speech. He was received by a thunderous clap and wildest applause. Julius is now well known on campus due to his charming recitation of his poems and his charisma and versatility. He started reading his speech on a rather grave note amidst the tempestuous and ecstatic roars.

Julius. [Reflectively]. It seems that the rules that the philosophers promulgate does not apply to them and the instruments for destroying privileges are itself instruments of privileges. it is clear and evident and a fact that Legon has demonstrated a strong sense of nationalism in the past by involving itself in national affairs by taking a crucial stance in our nations turbulent past by staunchly defending the cause of freedom, justice and fairness. And advocating immediate doom to corrupt, inefficient and despotic nation wreckers.
we can change the situation now like our predecessors did in the past. Because Legon is not devoid of radicals, intellectuals, and revolutionaries, who can even undo spells cast by malignant forces. But it seems the lion has grown old, starving to death and nothing can save it, not even resorting to
Craftiness. Vehemently. yet it is possible for the old lion who was once feared to survive. By the wonderful forte it achieved when it was bursting with youth and strength. As students of Legon, a revolution must occur in the way we think. in our psyche and actions. A dramatic change must happen. Thank you. He was given a gargantuan applause.



Kwame. Words are powerful. Words can wound and words can heal. Words can create and words can destroy. As students we are interested in words. Words are our heroes, we worship words. We use words astonishingly, we can charm and dazzle with words. We can elevate a thing to a grand level with words. We can also blind and confuse with words. But we turn to gloss over certain words and their adverse effect on us. When we talk of indiscipline, moral degeneration, falling standards of education and debasement of our cultural values, we become conscious of the connotations of the long and labyrinthine words we employ. We become aware of the problems. What is affecting and ruining us we elevate to grandiose level with words. But it will surprise some of us that words can be mere wind, empty rubbish. No matter what laborious research we make on a word’s etymology, no matter what emphasis we place on words, it will be futile if we can not differentiate mere words of ornamentation and embellishments from knowledge. The word university conjures an image of a splendid dome, a magnificent tower of learning in our minds. The very word is reverent, and we can easily get devotees on campus who will worship it with fervor and enthusiasm. Now let us draw some substance from words. Few words. The word university means universal duty, devotion, dedication and sacrifice. So as we have all gathered here to share the little knowledge we have, to listen to few words; let us be doers of the word, followers of the word and not to contend ourselves with mere mentioning of it.


MICHAEL: It is beyond comprehension how education has been engulfed by the vile stench of debilitating graft and corruption. Education, which suppose to be the assert of all and sundry is now exclusively for the privileged few. The poor is to wallow in ignorance and darkness. Be damned to eternal servitude and perdition. The one with the proper requirement is left out because he is impecunious. And the less performing less intelligent student admitted and able to go through the educational system with ease because his parents are well connected. These callous insensible who will go a long way to degrade and destroy education here will eventually send their wards to schools abroad. The educational system here is not good. It is a colonial legacy. You are only trained to do white color job, nothing else. The practice is theorized. The sons of the privileged few who are sent abroad to “further” their education would return home with their oxford degrees poised to occupy “big” positions. Because in the Whiteman’s land, the only job fit for the Blackman is odd dirty one. The Oxbridge degree holders in turn would cripple the nation so that they can send their wards to schools abroad to gain more knowledge whiles ours lie in ruins to reconstruct the country.

They will then approach the illiterate masses with a language they have spent their lifetime imitating to no avail. For our country to develop, we have to look critically at the educational sector. We must send every child of school going age to school especially the girl child. Then they will change the structure of the educational system in order to meet the needs of the common people. But the best policy is to send their wards to schools abroad.





Elva came forward with her speech. The applause that greeted her was extraordinary. The students especially the female folks were ecstatic. Elva was delighted and much encouraged by the unprecedented standing ovation accorded her

Elva: [shrilly vociferous] what men can do….

The crowd:[hoarsely] women can do better!

Elva: [inspired] behind every successful man is ….

The crowd [loudly] a woman!



Before I begin, I will like to recite a poem, which echoes and corroborates what I have to say.



Animistic heath – the withered conclave of three hideous heretics
On the crossroads of the barren waste they haunt with talons of awe
Shriveled – cloaked in scarlet of blood of apostasy
In shy posture they are huddled together with the wand of illusion
Mirrors of necromancy and lips prophesying doom
Clanging metatarsals doing a dance macabre on the banks of the river of blood
Encircled by labyrinths of ever-burning fire.
Ready lips to imprecate the benediction of Hecate

On the morass of humanities’ filth they fly with their swift broomsticks
In the recess of the dark vagaries of the imagination they will forever haunt
The lone house when woman hood denigrated on the shores of birth
When repugnant paeans are culled out of love words
From the princess to the prostitute
The keeper of the house to the abominable withered hag
When debased avarice is satiated on the brittle planks of blood
The wizard will cry helpless on tender laps and caring hands


The emergence of a hero of heroic birth and personage
The skies will shower praises on the heroic acts of men
In medieval quagmire of filth no wizard was ever hanged
Salem will throng the gates of gehenna for witch trials
And the most accomplished man a wizard – elevated to solemn grandeur
From primal beginnings the tender heart is fed with crude mystification
Taught to be submissive – they deem it their nature to be submissive
When they succumb to the dogmatic believes of men
The men get absolute control over them

Sibyls and hags, sisters three – on the tripod is the pot of ritual and blood
Where you have a clear view of how you have being trampled
Denigrated and dehumanized
Your dignity and integrity is at stake
From creation deemed inferior and worthless – playthings
Look at the blood in the pot on the tripod and recite incantations
Sibyls and hags – sisters three recite the esoteric words to counteract
The evil and avaricious ideology of the insensible hounds of hell
Be vociferous sisters three – voice out your pains and anguish
In the dungeon of despair – speak out loud and clear
For in their shadowy night hung rhetoric of deceit
Recite the incantatory words of fire for recognition and respect
In the society you have created

Why do you give birth to kings and queens and be their slaves
With the magic wand, waive of the wraith of inferiority
The buzzing omen of eternal blame of weaker vessels
Let the voice who will whisper destroyers vanish to the gloomy grave
The voice gathering momentum resurrect your
Falling image in the quagmire of filth

Now on the flying broomsticks gain Arial height and rain down all
The tatters that has bound your hearts and souls for centuries
Shed the dirty rags of inferiority and timidity down to the abyss of oblivion
For the horizon is glittering with the pearls of your emancipation
Fly in the sky sisters three – witches and hags
Fly in the sky with your broomsticks for your liberation is at hand
Equality that you seek for is scatted like the stars in the sky to brighten
Your world of eternal darkness
Fly with your flying broomsticks witches three
And in ecstatic jubilation proclaim your liberation.




Elva: even though I am delicate, I possess the heart of a lion. Fellow students, I will like to commence my speech with a famous axiom by one of the illustrious sons of our mother land. Dr Kwagyire aggrey. Which succinctly captures the spirit of our struggle for emancipation, equality and recognition? I quote. To educate a man is to educate an individual. And to educate a woman is to educate a nation.
This wise adage is irrefutably embedded in our psyche. Not because it was first uttered by a Ghanaian, but its veracity cannot be compromised. And this we must redefine in modernist terms. Imbue it with life and safeguard it. As the golden adage implies, the education of the girl child is the education, edification of the world. A touch of enlightenment in our hands. We are the bedrock of the society. The pillar, the caryatids of the nation. It means the bulk of the burden of the society lie on us. It also means responsibility. Dedication, commitment. We must bare in mind that our duty us women are manifold. So when we strut campus beneath the learning towers, we should not let ourselves be ridden with unbridled pride, conceit and vile complacency. We must not enter the temple of debauchery, promiscuity, and profligacy and eventually be ruined. We must always bare in mind that we are the mothers, the sacred plinth that legon stands, the force that propels the wheels of the premier university. Thank you.


After they have delivered their speeches, the university anthem was chanted by the excited students and after brief interactions, the crowd of students dispersed and as usual the young intellectuals of the university met again.



Elva [with enthusiasm] it was hectic and penetrating. I am exhausted.

Julius. This is just the beginning.

Elva [nonchalantly] well, that is what you think, what I actually mean is that it has gone down well with the students, being successful. Our objective has being realized.

Julius: more is yet to come, my dear.



Michael. As Julius said, we are getting started. As the saying goes, it is not begun until half done. There are myriads of issues to be discussed here t legon. There are many problems to be tackled. I like the spirit and the quest for a common goal. Identifying the problems and participating in anything that will help arrest the situation. And not just being eloquent and vociferous about legon’s numerous problems for students to applaud you and say that you are an intellectual, a prophet, a messiah. That is sheer emptiness. The radical who is in to effect radical changes must be in the forefront and must take a giant leap.

Kwame: THE sentiments we always display betray us as mere students, learners.


Julius. And how long are we to remain learners. What we learn here must be put to practice, must reflect in our actions. Yet, it’s just the contrary that we are cursed to face.

Michael: Everything is failing. [Julius got a call on his handset.] When you fail in legon, what is the guarantee that you will make it in the world?

Julius:[ecstatic] good news!

Elva; lets hear it then.

Julius: Martin, a friend of mine at radio universe wants to feature us on his program. He said he was pleased by the selfless altruism we displayed today.

Elva [excited] wow! A charming invitation!

Kwame: Now our message will be on air.

Michael: it has the potential of reaching all the four corners of campus.

JULIUS: Now let us suspend our comments and let me get through with it. There will also be a brief discussion about our play to the drama studio, which I hope will be possible next week. I believe you are working on it. Let us get going.