New textbooks part of a grand scheme to denigrate Ewes – Volta MPs angry

The Volta Region Members of Parliament (MPs) have expressed anger over the controversial primary school textbooks, whose content has generated public uproar.

The textbooks, despite not approved by the National Council of Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), found their way onto the market at the blind side of publishers.

One of the publishers, Badu Nkansah Publication, has since recalled all the textbooks and apologized.

But adding their voice to the condemnation, the Volta MPs said they find the publication to be “part of a grand scheme by certain individuals to deliberately denigrate, villify, indoctrinate and also poison the minds of young people against the Ewe people of Ghana”.

“The publication also feeds into a rather negative narrative by some individuals who have over the years used as their weapon, sophisticated and subtle sociocultural orchestrations to cause hatred, dislike and disaffection against the Ewe people,” a statement issued by Chairman of the Volta MPs Caucus Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah said.

The statement added that the publication is a calculated attempt at singling out a particular ethnic group for “ridicule and derision”.

“We also view the publication as a new strategy aimed at reintroducing a discredited prehistoric mindset of tribal bigotry to the young people of 21st century Ghana.

“We reject the publication in its entirety while calling on civil society, religious organizations and more importantly traditional authorities to rise up and speak against this new attempt at ethnocentrism.”

They have called on NaCCA to exact sanctions on the publishers with immediate effect.

“The caucus will as a matter of urgency take further steps to ensure that this fresh attempt of tribal bigotry is sufficiently dealt with.”

By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|editors.3news.com|Ghana

Follow @kwame_amoh