John Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama is stoking fresh debate over the Free Senior High School (SHS) by claiming that the policy, which has put about 1.2 million children in secondary schools free of charge, has brought hardship to parents.
He said there had been so much propaganda against him that he is returning to power to cancel the policy, insisting rather that “I will come and make it better because it has brought hardships and inconveniences to parents.”
At a durbar of chiefs at Mafia, Juaboso, in the Western North Region during his campaign to return to power, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer told the party’s supporters to “hoot at anybody who will say I, John Dramani Mahama, will come and cancel free SHS.”
Chicken Analogy
He appeared to fault the Akufo-Addo government for ‘hurriedly’ implementing the Free SHS policy without ‘thinking’ through it, using the rearing of chickens as analogy for his claim.
“If you want to rear chicken you get a hencoop first. You just wake up one day and say you are going into chicken rearing and bring in the animals; where are you sending them? Are you sending them to your bedroom or your sitting room?” he asked.
Free SHS Anticipation
He said “that was why because we knew we were bringing free SHS, we decided to build 200 schools. We started and finished many of them. Many of them were being completed when we left office. If this government has any compassion and love for the country, it would have completed the projects. It has left them where we reached before exiting power.”
“They then hurriedly implemented the free SHS without taking into consideration accommodation for the students. The student population is now very high so the parents have to find accommodation for their children who gain admission,” he added.
Renting Accommodation
He indicated that “a 15-year-old kid has been allowed to live alone in a rented accommodation in a place far from his or her parents because there is not accommodation for him or her in secondary school.”
“The parents will panic because whatever is happening to him or her whether he or she is attending school you will not know,” he said, adding “before he or she leaves for school, you have to use all your money to find food for him or her to take along.”
Vacation Troubles
“When they vacate they stay home for three months, why? By the time he or she gets back to school all the things they studied would have been forgotten.When they stay at home for long, they engage in all sorts of things. Some of the girls become pregnant,” he claimed.
“I have said if I win in December, I will use only a year to cancel the double track system which I call traffic light.We shall complete all our schools that have been abandoned in the bush and send some of the kids to such schools. We shall add the private schools so they also enjoy the free SHS,” he added.
Road Construction
Mr. Mahama also said that “we started 18 roads in this area, and 21 were being worked on before we left office. If the new government had continued with it, we would have completed all roads in the Western North Region.”
He said “they told the contractors to stop work because they are auditing it. For four years they haven’t been able to finish the auditing and since they know the elections are coming they are hurriedly bringing machines to create the impression that they are constructing the roads. It is all Sakawa!”
Cocoa Farmers
He said that “we had special arrangement with cocoa farmers.We gave them free fertilizers. They have stopped the free policy and are selling it. They sell one bag for GH¢80 so most of the farmers are not able to buy the product.”
He claimed also that “they kept the fertilizers until the products expired and threw them away. Is this a government which should be allowed to continue in office?” adding “we had good programmes we were implementing for cocoa farmers which enabled us to produce 967,000 tonnes in 2016. We shall bring it back so that the farmers will be happy.”
Galamsey Fight
He claimed the government had destroyed the small-scale mining sector popularly called galamsey, adding “they have been selective in who should participate in small-scale mining and we should not encourage it.”
“If you are not an NPP member you would not be allowed to go into small-scale mining. They have sacked all the NDC members from the small-scale mining industry. They have given the lands to party and family members.
“They have seized their excavators and given to their party members and families to do galamsey. No President should entertain such things but they are happening right under the nose of the sitting President. We shall give back to the original owners their seized excavators,” he claimed.
Mr. Mahama also said that “those who have genuine documents to concessions have been sacked and they have given them to party members and family people. We shall give it back to them,” adding “we shall establish Goldbod like Cocobod to supervise activities of the small-scale mining sector.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu