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The 2012 Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Mahamudu Bawumia, says the NPP�s flagship campaign pledge in the 2012 elections, to provide free secondary school education for every Ghanaian child would have been a reality by now if the NPP had been in power. Delivering the keynote address at the NPP-USA congress at Charlotte, North Carolina, Dr Bawumia explained that the record budget deficit of 2012, incurred by President John Dramani Mahama, which amounted to GH�8.7 billion �would have been sufficient to finance at least 8 continuous years of free secondary school education.� Shedding more light on his expos�, Dr Bawumia noted that when the NPP proposed the free secondary school education, the NDC opposed it in the same way that they opposed the NHIS. According to Dr. Bawumia, the NDC and John Mahama said it was too expensive and that the country did not have the money to finance the approximately GH�1 billion annual cost. �Yet, this same economy that had no money was able to spend GH�8.7 billion above its budget in 2012. This GH� 8.7 billion would have been sufficient to finance at least 8 continuous years of free secondary school education. It is ultimately a matter of priorities,� Dr Bawumia noted. He continued, �If you prioritize the allocation of resources towards free quality secondary school education, you will get free quality secondary school education. If however as a government you choose to prioritize Akonfem, GYEEDA, SUBAH and judgement debts, then the attention and monies will go into Akonfem, GYEEDA, SUBAH and judgement debts.� Dr Bawumia urged NPP members to remind Ghanaians of this fact, adding that �our approach to education is therefore fundamentally different because of the importance we attach to it.�