A five-month investigation carried out by the 'New Statesman' has revealed that the ruling National Democratic Congress� much touted distribution of three million school uniforms to the over five million school children at the basic level is nothing but a hoax.
New Statesman reporters dispatched across the length and breadth of the country reveal that not more than 150,000 school uniforms, over the last four years, have been distributed to school children across the country.
This translates into one school uniform for every 33 school children as opposed to the NDC manifesto claim of having provided three million school uniforms to some five million school children, representing three school uniforms for every five school children.
In some schools where children had been given these uniforms, teachers who spoke to the New Statesman on condition of anonymity described the uniforms as oversized, calling it �the onetime school uniform�, as pupils can wear them from class 1 to JHS 3.
For example, at the Adwenase Primary School in the Adansi South district, the Kojo Nkwanta Junior High School in the Adansi North district of the Ashanti Region, and the Maase primary school in Afigya-Sekyere, not even a single child was seen wearing the NDC�s new school uniform.
In Amoaya in the Bodi Constituency; Bonsai, Bonsu-Nkwanta, Asempanaye, Adaabokrom, and Ofosukrom all in the Juaboso constituency, New Statesman reporters recorded only 27 out of some 800 school children with school uniforms.
Similarly, the NDC�s claim of having provided 160 million exercise books to the 4.8 million children at the basic level came under scrutiny. This claim by the NDC implies that every school going Ghanaian child has received some 33 school exercise books since 2009.
This claim also proved to be false. Even before our reporters completed the task of ascertaining the number of exercise books distributed, the President, John Dramani Mahama, had contradicted what was stated in his own 2012 Manifesto.
At the President�s evening encounter organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs, John Mahama stated that �We have also distributed 43 million exercise books.� However, page 15 of the NDC 2012 manifesto states that �over 40 million exercise books per year have been distributed to about 4.8 million pupils in Basic Schools nationwide as part of our commitment to investing in our people.� This claim by the NDC implied that they had distributed 160 million exercise books to school children across the country.
However, checks done by the New Statesman have revealed that less than 12 million exercise books have been distributed nationwide.
In subsequent editions, the New Statesman will publish, in its entirety the report detailing the actual numbers of school uniforms and exercise books that have been distributed by the NDC, nationwide.
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