SOURCE: PRESS STATEMENT NDC-USA

NPP GERMANY REPLIES MAHAMA, A REJOINDER- NDC USA

Even a cursory read of NPP Germany's statement which was published on Ghanaweb among other media platforms, can expose the reader to “NPP’s Free SHS Now” policy's greatest weakness. Arguably this flaw is also the proverbial one ton elephant in the room i.e. how will “Free SHS Now” be sustainably financed in the short term? In their statement the NPP Germany attacked President Mahama's assertion that the implementation of free education in other African countries is dogged with financial difficulties, unfortunately they buttress their argument by stating that “forty percent of Ghana's budget is supported by donor funding.” What NPP Germany and the NPP as a whole do not realize is that by citing Ghana’s longstanding reliance on donor funding they are stating the most glaring flaw of the NPP’s Free SHS Now policy. Their attack of the President Mahama is indeed a vindication of the NDC position!

The problem with Nana Akuffo Addo's free SHS policy is not that it is undesirable; it will not be enshrined in the constitution if it were not desirable - indeed it is a national goal. The policy reminds this writer of a football fan who brags about how his division two team will win division one next year while his team is not even near the top tier in division two which will enable the said team to advance to division one before completely topping the league. Planning without facing reality does not make one optimistic, it is stupidity!

NPP Germany's claim that embassies of the countries the President mentioned denied any problems with their Educational systems, revealed a thematic naivety which has been consistent with NPP's thinking on this “Free SHS Now” policy. What did they expect the embassies to say? The NPP thinks Ghanaians are ignorant, naive or just not paying attention to their nonsensical educational policy. Did they really expect the foreign embassies to respond that their education is in going to the dogs?

Ghana's SHS is currently heavily subsidized by government, tuition is free, public schools are built and maintained by government, the fees currently paid by users consists mainly of feeding, boarding costs and textbooks (this does not include textbooks provided by government). Why should a donor country fund forty percent of your budget only for you to use the funds to pay for boarding costs of your students, when the donors themselves do not fund boarding of their students? (Most boarding schools in advanced countries are privately funded).

Additionally, there are not enough schools for Ghana's SHS students in many municipalities across Ghana, many District SHS buildings lack basic physical infrastructure which make education meaningful and qualitative, the better answer is to fix the problems first! Some SHS school buildings are made of mud bricks and thatch, they leak badly when it rains, pictures from Ghanaian newspapers show schools from the NPP flag bearer's constituency in such conditions and yet like the modern day Sancho Panzas, the NPP continues to speak of “free SHS Now” with straight faces.

Another important point is the status of Ghana's education as a whole. In NDC USA's last statement on this matter we started that Ghanaian think-tanks and professors who have lent their support to this “free SHS Now” policy of NPP must not only be ashamed of themselves, these think-tanks should be named in order that their international financiers can determine for themselves if support for policy positions such as this deserve their scarce resources. For a population of more than twenty one million, Ghana has only seven public universities which enrolls less than fifty thousand students yearly, in comparison New York State which has about the same population as Ghana has over seventy state universities and colleges(this does not include the figure for private universities. This type of infrastructural deficit exists in all levels of education, as if this is not enough the problem of infrastructural deficit is worsened by unavailability of quality of teachers, especially in rural and semi-rural communities, even in the top class educational institution facilities such as well equipped libraries, internet linked computers, well equipped scientific labs are either woeful inadequate or do not exist at all.

The NPP's free SHS promise is in reality an oversimplification of Ghana's challenges when it comes to educating future generations. A careful listen to their flag bearer underscores why the NPP has taken such an ignorant policy position as it main campaign message. Recently, Nana Addo remarked that when NPP comes to power SHS education will be basic education. SHS is not basic education the universal expectation of basic education also known as elementary education is that the student must be functionally literate education is grouped by skill acquired as a result of the undertaken not by the percentage of the populace who pass through it. SHS is adolescent education, which has the main function of beginning the process of training the individual to function as part of the adult world.

For months the NPP flag bearer after has been unable to tell Ghanaians how he will pay for his “free SHS Now” policy. In recent times he has taken to shouting at the top of his voice, about how he will use the oil money for the “Free SHS Now” policy. Vague references have also been made to judgment debts payments and salaries for elected government officials. The NDC USA briefly states that, there is a good reason why President Kufuor notwithstanding all the noise he currently makes on the campaign trail, was unable to make SHS completely free. For starters how was he going to explain the policy with all its weaknesses pointed out here to the donors who so heavily support us financially? As already stated our donors themselves do not waste their funds on boarding of students but have focused on making education available qualitatively and quantitatively to all citizens at every level of society?

Regarding reference to judgment debts we know that the NPP flag bearer does know better, judgment debts occur in every civilized nation it is not a real factor which determines whether government will bear the cost of boarding students.

Concerning the use of “Oil Money” the NPP flag bearer needs to come again. The reader needs to be reminded that the NPP flag bearer is promising his so-called free SHS Now! There is the real practical problem of making infrastructure available - this takes time and resources. The question is how free SHS Now is, going to improve quality of education when there is no mention of investing in teacher training? How much income is the Ghanaian government going to gain from Oil proceeds in the next two years to make all this as well as investments needed in other sectors of the economy possible, can Akuffo Addo or anyone in NPP let us know?

In summary, NDC USA believes that the NDC policy of holistically developing the educational sector in Ghana is the most reasonable and mature path to sustainable growth and development of Ghana. NPP's position is just a tired and desperate political gimmick which unfortunately is an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians. The NDC USA calls on all members of the party as well as all well meaning Ghanaians to call their families back home to turn out and vote for the NDC's presidential and parliamentary candidate because of the sanity of the President and the party’s position on all issues. We also wish the President a happy birthday!

Signed : Osborne K Sam

Secretary, NDC USA