Ametor 'Tours' Educ. Ministry In Search Of Prez Mahama's List Of 123 Community SHS For Sefa Kayi

Consultant to the National Health Insurance Authority has embarked on a tour of the Education Ministry in apparent search of the list of 123 community Senior High Schools said to be in different stages of completion.

Ametor Quarmyne's tour to get the list was to fulfill a promise he made to Kwame Sefa Kayi, host of Peace FM's Kokrokoo program that the list was available and that he would submit it on his next visit to the station.

The former Editor of the Ghana Palaver newspaper a member of the government's communications team had touted president John Mahama's achievements and cited the promise to build 200 community SHS as one of the success stories of the NDC.

Even though the promise was to complete all 200 schools by 2016, the president in his highlight presentation of the manifesto said 10 of the schools had been commissioned with 123 others in different stages of completion, some in an advance stage.

He said if given the opportunity in 2017, he will complete the remaining schools by the end of his tenure in 2021.

Several government spokespersons, including the Deputy Education Ministry Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Communications Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu had on different occasions repeated the fact that 10 of the SHS had been commissioned with 123 of them in several stages of completion.

But the spokespersons never gave a list of where the remaining 123 schools were and at what stages they had reached.

In last week's edition of the Kokrokoo, Ametor Quarmyne made the same claim and was challenged by Kweku Baako Jnr and the host to make the list of the schools available so journalists will be able to  independently verify.

Quarmyne accepted the challenge, saying the list was available and promised to provide it detailing exactly where the schools were sited and at what stages they were in. He even requested for the email of the host so he will forward the list to him.

However, the government spokesperson appeared seven days later without the list but with a story of how he toured the Education Ministry in a desperate attempt to find the list. According to him, he is not the Education Minister so he had to go to the ministry to get the information.

He said when he got there, he was directed to the Project Department but was told the head of department was not around. Ametor Quarmyne said he was then directed to the secondary school section for the list but there too, he didn't see the head.

He told Sefa Kayi that he had left information with the Ministry for the list to be made available and once the list is presented to him he will forward it to the host. His explanation triggered a bout of laughter from the panelists with Kweku Baako saying the explanation was an insult to the intelligence to those who were demanding the list.

He said he had sent same request to the Deputy Education Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa for the list to be made available to him.