Eric Opoku
The minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament has expressed disappointment over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s unwillingness to pay allowances to students in agricultural colleges, saying it is in blatant breach of its promise to restore allowances to them.
The ranking member of Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament and NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Eric Opoku, expressed the minority’s sentiments over the raging issue of restoring allowances to agricultural college students at a press briefing on Wednesday. He said President Akufo-Addo, then presidential candidate of the NPP, promised not only to restore the allowances of students in teacher and nursing training colleges, but also those of agricultural colleges, when voted into power.
Interestingly, it was the NDC administration, headed by John Mahama – in which Mr Eric Opoku played an active role as regional minister for the Brong-Ahafo – that scrapped all allowances for the students, saying that they didn’t need them and that they (allowances) would be given as loans – which never happened.
“Nana Akufo-Addo in his campaign went to the Kwadaso Agricultural College in Kumasi and made that firm promise to the students and so the students were very happy and voted for him to become the president to ensure that their allowances could be restored to them,” he said, adding that it is very unfair for students in the nursing and teacher training institutions to be given allowances while students of agricultural colleges are left out.
The MP said the government should not create the impression that students in agricultural institutions are not important because it is the same trainees who are to become agricultural extension officers to support the government’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ policy and help farmers to increase their yields.
Mr Opoku noted that the current situation where students, after several petitions to the government, have vacated campuses and gone home in protest of government’s failure to restore their allowances to them is not the best since the action (of the students) could eventually undermine the government’s policies and programmes.
“All that we want to say is that if the government does not have the money to pay them, it should engage the students and give them some time frame to be able to pay the allowance instead of leaving them in limbo and forcing them to vacate their various campuses in protest of the government’s stand,” the ranking member charged.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr