President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo only hoodwinked Ghanaians with the free Senior High School (SHS) promise ahead of the 2016 election just for votes, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, former Deputy Minister of Communication, has said.
According to him, the Akufo-Addo-led government has no idea about how to finance and sustain the programme, but for purposes of votes, he had to make that promise.
His comments come on the heels of plans by the government to introduce a double-track system in the SHSs in September.
Government has explained that the two-track system is meant to cater for the spike in enrolment into Senior High Schools (SHSs) due to the free SHS policy.
The full implementation of the new system is expected to cost GHS323million. The objective of the double-track system is to create room to accommodate all the students, reduce class size, increase contact hours and increase the number of holidays.
The system is similar to the academic calendar used in the universities. With this system, each track will be in school for specific days for each semester and go on vacation and come back for the second semester. While the first track is in school, the second track will be on vacation and vice-versa.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV Thursday, 26 July, Mr Kwakye Ofosu said: “Free SHS, as it was promised by the NPP to be delivered, has collapsed. Is government not scrambling to look for ways to sustain a policy that is clearly unstainable? This double-intake system the president is talking about is nothing more than a glorified shift system. You can call a donkey an ass and paint its face with make-up, it will still remain an ass, it will never become a horse, so, they can call it whatever they like, it is a shift system.”
He added: “I am sure you are aware of the BBC interview with Mr Akufo-Addo on the free SHS. That poor performance by the president should have ended the free SHS debate because it was clear that the man whose vision it was supposed to be …simply did not have the answers to how much it will cost or how it was going to be implemented. It was the clearest indication that it was nothing more than populist rhetoric intended only to woo Ghanaians into voting for him.”
Source: classfmonline.com
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Stan Dogbe, Ofosu Kwakye and Joyce Bawa Mogtar chopping Ghana money for nothing! "eeii 4 years mpo ni 3ne3 anka 8 years de3 nka Ghana awu" even 4 years one term president look at how the state is using tax payers money to pay these people for no work done for Ghana, then how much was Ghana going to spend if they had gotten the 8 years? They created their own salaries before leaving office and enjoying them for no work done. John Mahama back dated his salary in 2013 to 2011 for not being president at that time and those think tanks couldn't see it,but they've seen free SHS being implemented for poor children to also enjoy high school and they talking trash about it. Look at the huge amount of money John mahama and his aids are enjoying in opposition? and you talk bad about free SHS? May the spirits and gods of our land visit the homes of all against this initiative and punish them.
Whether ndc hate free SHS or they are anti-Free SHS ndc is not coming today or tomorrow. What are you coming to do, what are your policies apart from criticism? this boy is being paid huge sums of money by the tax payer for being loud mouth for john mahama. If John mahama is somebody who kritically think of Ghanaians are Joyce Bawa Mogtar, Stan Dogbe the type of people he will take along to be paid with state money? the man is not serious and this shows how he think of Ghanaians and he will never come back. Any serious Ex-president would have taken technocrats to compete with his opponents but not loud mouth empty heads who are hated by the people, he still has "Yentie obiaa" syndrome! In any case, the constitution says,if a president performs well in his first 4 year term he can be retained by the people for another 4 years to make 8 years and after that the president retire, the constitution never said when a president spend the first 4 years and booted he can come back for another 4 years ,I'm yet to be shown where that clause is. It us not automatic for anyone to have 8 years, you can be sacked by the people if you under perform and no coming back. The 8 years run concurrent no 2nd world war so somebody tell that ndc former president who is ign*****barred word*** about everything to stop the joke of I'm coming back, if the people like you they would have retained you. Who do you think will bring you back with these your arrogant and disrespectful aids. Somebody tell Mr mahama we still remember the agony Ghanaians went through during his tenure ,the disrespect, arrogance, boistrous manner, show of power, orders from above, contract killings, footsoldiers doing their own thing, Naaba and Eric Opoku killing people of Sankore like fowls,we remember them all and we will keep on to remind you if you've forgotten. Ghanaians ain't f000***000ls !