Mr. Sammi Awuku, the National Organiser of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), says John Dramani Mahama has no knowledge about how to implement the free Senior High School programme.
Mr. Awuku argued that, because John Mahama fought against the policy, he cannot be trusted to continue with its implementation.
“John Mahama says he will implement Free SHS when elected. Should Ghanaians replace the man who dreamed it, believed it, and delivered it for one who never believed it, ridiculed it and fought against it? Once again, candidate Mahama wants to associate himself with success, but he does not know how to solve the problems to achieve the success story. He has no blueprint for achieving this success he dreams of.”
“The concept of Free SHS for 1.2 million teenagers and growing is too complex for the NDC candidate and the party. Between the two main candidates, it is obvious which one truly cares for the youth of Ghana and therefore the country Ghana. Definitely, it is Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo,” Sammi Awuku said.
John Mahama, on Saturday, August 2020, during a visit to the Overlord of Dagbon, Yaa-Naa Abukari II debunked claims that he will abolish the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme being implemented by the governing NPP if he comes to power.
“Free Senior High School education has come to stay. If anybody tells you that I, John Dramani Mahama, son of E.A Mahama will abolish Free SHS when I come, tell the person he is a bloody liar. What I am against is the poor implementation of the Free SHS which is creating great inconvenience for the parents, for the students and for the teachers and the point I have made is that we can make it better.”
“If this government had followed our plan of continuing with the 200 new Senior High Schools that we were building, we will not have the current situation that we have in our Free SHS plan,” said John Mahama.
Mahama’s sudden U-turn on Free SHS ‘deceptive’
Earlier, the National Youth Organizer of NPP, Henry Nana Boakye has called on Ghanaians to disregard John Mahama’s statement that he has no intention to cancel the Free SHS policy of the Nana Akufo-Addo government.
According to Nana Boakye, Mr. Mahama’s comments on implementing Free SHS better is driven by ill-faith.
“The seeming endorsement given to Free SHS policy by Mr. Mahama is driven by ill-faith, deception and opportunism borne out of Mr. Mahama and the NDC’s innate tendencies to subtly associate themselves with goods things to benefit unduly from same.”
He further questioned where the former president will get the funding from for the Free SHS policy since he cancelled trainee allowances due to funding challenges during his tenure as president of the country.
“If Mr. Mahama couldn’t pay trainees’ allowances in that he had to insensitively cancel it, where would he get over GHS2 billion to fund Free SHS? Ghanaians should consider Mr. Mahama’s statement as comic relief because he (Mahama) couldn’t find few millions of cedis to reimburse three consecutive terms’ feeding grants to keep Second Cycle Institutions in the northern part of Ghana opened.”
