General News of Friday, 21 July 2017

Source: todaygh.com

Where is NPP’s free SHS? - NDC asks

Kofi Portuphy, National Chairman of NDC with other party executives Kofi Portuphy, National Chairman of NDC with other party executives

National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged Ghanaians to demand accountability from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his promise that his government will absorb the cost of Senior High School (SHS) education.

“We have only two months to the September deadline of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia led-New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s campaign promise of implementing the free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

But we demand answer to this question: “where is NPP free SHS?” the NDC asked.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Accra, National Chairman of the NDC, Mr. Kofi Portuphy, laughed off the six-month performance by President Akufo-Addo.

The NPP, he noted, deceived Ghanaians with their free senior high school policy, adding that the free public SHS policy initiated by the governing NPP is a scam.

According to him, the NPP was failing to do what it promised prior to the 2016 elections.

He insisted that the ruling government has not been sincere with Ghanaians since they campaigned on making it absolutely free contrary to the ‘first years only’ announced by the finance minister.

“For them to tell us SHS is free only for us to know that only first years are going to benefit, then the policy is a scam,” he yelled.

According to Mr. Portuphy, policies such as the one district, one factory and the 1 million dollars, one constituency were all scams of the NPP government.

He said the NPP promised to give opportunity to every Ghanaian child to benefit from free SHS but after winning power, they have changed the goal post.



“The NDC on their part promised progressively free SHS whereas the NPP promised free SHS for everybody. That was the main difference between NDC campaign and NPP campaign.

The NPP mocked our community secondary schools and promised to make them boarding schools and so Ghanaians voted for you, but after winning, you have changed to only implementing the policy for only first years.

The policy will not even benefit all the first years, there will be a cut-off point. This is nothing but ‘419,” he stressed.

Mr. Portuphy, therefore, called on the NPP to apologise to former President John Dramani Mahama for denigrating him on his educational policy.

The NPP, he noted, deceived Ghanaians with the free senior school policy.