The Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says they have picked intelligence indicating that some Ghanaians are plotting to bring the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy to its knees. This was revealed in a press conference organised by the youth in Accra, yesterday.
Mr. Henry Nana Boakye, affectionately called Nana B, National Youth Organiser who addressed the media at the party’s head office, said some members from the academia, teachers and civil servants who have close ties to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are plotting evil against the ongoing Free SHS.
According to him, they (NDC) know that this is a policy that has convinced many Ghanaians about the goodwill of the ruling NPP government in transforming the nation, and that some high profile personnel working in diverse agencies, and even within the local communities, are spreading lies about the policy, with the aim of changing people’s mentality about it, “but it will not work.”
When asked if they had reported the matter to the police, he continued that they were working with them on this matter and will soon expose those people.
Mr. Boakye said the NDC was aware that this policy had come to ease the woes of many Ghanaian parents, especially those within the hinterlands who could not afford to take their children to Senior High level, but today, many of them can boast of having, at least, one person whose educational expenses are being paid fully by the state.
The Free SHS was first announced when the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, went to Okuapeman Senior High School in March 2017 and declared that the coming September that same year, Free SHS was going to start.
By September this year, the Ministry of Education has predicted that about 1.2 million students would be enrolled and benefitting from this policy nationwide.
At “The Youth Must Know” Conference, Mr. Boakye made reference to many online platforms that have recorded many of the ex-president’s utterances at different times, indicating that he was strongly against the policy.
He noted that they (NDC) were shocked and are still in confusion as to how the NPP started the policy, and because it is something that is likely to convince many Ghanaians to retain the NPP in power in the coming2020 general elections, they are doing everything possible to jeopardise it.
He also warned Ghanaians to be careful of the recent U-turn made by the former president, adding: “It will be recalled that Mr. Mahama, at the 27th annual Residential Delegates Congress organised by the Ghana National Union of Technical University Students in Kumasi, stated that Free SHS is here to stay.
“An assertion that contradicts the modus operandi and entrenched hostility exhibited by the NDC against the Free SHS policy since 2008. For the avoidance of doubt, and in the spirit of making known to the youth of Ghana, the NPP youth wing, without a shred of equivocation, asserts that the seeming endorsement given to the Free SHS policy by former president Mahama is driven by ill faith, deception and opportunism, born out of the former president Mahama and the NDC’s innate tendencies to sadly associate themselves with the good things with the glory of FSHS and benefits from same,” the party’s Youth Commander iterated.
According to the Youth Commander, when the NDC says it will review, it means cancellation. He, therefore, made reference to the teacher trainee allowances that was given to all students in the training colleges and later cancelled under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration.
Also, the nursing training allowance that was in place for decades was also cancelled when the country went to the International Monetary Fund for a loan to run its affairs in 2013.
This, again, was restored by this current government, and today, ex-president Mahama talking about reviewing the Free SHS policy means they would cancel it if given the mandate to run to country.
