NPP cautions students on Mahama’s ill-conceived free tertiary education promise
By Kwasi Frimpong
The governing NPP has said that the last-minute promise by NDC flagbearer John Mahama to make tertiary education free is ill-conceived and deceptive.
“This is an ill-conceived campaign promise, smuggled through the back door to add up to the litany of their failed and uninspiring manifesto promises. The shambolic ‘Fa Ninyinaa’ promise, being the last straw that the NDC desperately seek to anchor their drowning campaign on… is not only a propaganda tool but also a sickening scam directed at downplaying the intelligence of voters,” the NPP said.
Addressing NPP’s ‘Youth Must Know’ series yesterday, the National Youth Organiser of the party, Henry Nana Boakye, said the NDC had over the period said that their 2020 manifesto contains programmes and policies proposed by the people of Ghana.
He therefore questioned how the party’s so-called ‘KYEMUPE’ promise, “which we were made to believe that it was a true and accurate reflection of the aspirations and needs of the ordinary Ghanaian, has conspicuously changed.”
“Isn’t it strange that the people who supposedly asked for KYEMUPE at a delicate period when COVID-19 had slowed economic activities, would vary their demand and ask for Fa Ninyinaa when economic activities have picked up momentum according to reliable data from Ghana Statistical Service and Bank of Ghana?
“The flip-flop disposition of Candidate Mahama and his NDC tells us that they are confused, bereft of ideas and desperate to win political power with plain lies, fabricated falsehood and deceptive campaign promises,” he said
Free SHS
The NPP has further stated that Mr Mahama’s attempt to associate himself with the Free SHS policy is “driven by ill-faith, deception and opportunism”, borne out of his “innate tendencies to harvest what he didn’t sow”.
Nana B, as the NPP youth organiser is affectionately called, stated that no amount of propaganda and deceptive promises can salvage the drowning campaign of the NDC and the looming defeat of Mr Mahama.
According to him, the youth of Ghana are very focused and embarking on the final ‘Boots on Ground’ across the country with the view to galvanizing more support for the NPP ahead of the polls on Monday.
“Evidence abounds that Mr Mahama and the NDC have opposed and worked tirelessly to obstruct and disrupt the implementation of the free SHS policy from 2008 to date,” he said.
“Mr Mahama is on record to have said in 2016 that ‘Ghana cannot introduce Free SHS on the whimsical promise of a desperate politician. Many mistakes have been made by countries in Africa already, with free SHS’. Isn’t it extremely strange, that Mahama who supposedly introduced Free SHS in 2015 and will turn around to launch a lethal campaign against same policy? Who in his right frame of mind, would introduce a policy in 2015 and a year down the line, speak vehemently against same policy. It doesn’t add up,” he said.
He added: “Candidate Mahama on October 1, 2018 reiterated his aversion to Free SHS, stating that it will undergo a review and hinted on the possibility of the policy being scrapped because to him it is unthinkable to spend 2 billion Ghana cedis on free SHS and that it is seriously constricting government’s budget.”
Successes
Nana B stated that under President Akufo-Addo, a whopping 1.2 million students have benefitted from the life-changing Free SHS/TVET policy, adding “By February 2021, the number of beneficiaries will increase to over 1.6 million.”
He added that about 100,000 students have also been granted both local and foreign scholarships, with thousands of Free SHS graduates expected to benefit from the package.
“Under the holistic and impactful Free SHS policy of President Akufo-Addo, tuition is free; admission fee is free, library fee is free; science centre is free, computer lab fee is free; utility fee is free; textbooks are free; boarding fee is free; nutritious meals are given for free to both Boarding and Day Students,” he said.
