Politics of Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Source: GNA

Upper West NPP communication team condemn NDC reasons for rejecting free SHS

The Upper West Regional Communication Team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the reasons being used by the National Democracy Congress (NDC) to shoot down the free Senior High School (SHS) policy of the NPP.

In a statement at a news conference at Wa, they said citizens and members of the NPP in the Upper West Region had followed the debate on what they termed laudable and sound policy and came to the realization that the NDC, other critics and opponents were continuously using spurious arguments to shoot down the policy.

“The NDC’s shallow argument that free SHS will produce substandard, mediocre and inferior quality graduates for Ghana is a serious indictment on the integrity, capability, capacity and ability and the general output of all past beneficiaries of free education”.

They said the NDC’s campaign aimed to discourage Ghanaians from accepting the policy with poor quality, lack of space and lack of access as their reasons whiles relegating affordability to the background was absurd, sad and ridiculous.

James Dugrah the Party’s Regional Communication Director who read the statement said accessibility without affordability could endanger depression and frustration which could be potential recipe for social vices such as armed robbery, prostitution, corruption suicide and streetism.

“We the scholars from the three northern regions in particular are products of the free education system, we are therefore calling on the NDC to tell us where we fall short in the performance of our duties just simply because we are products of free education,” it said.

The statement described as shocking, sad and ironical to hear their brothers and sisters from the north who are in the NDC have also joined in the campaign to castigate, demonize and label the policy as non-feasible and a cheap talk by Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, NPP presidential candidate.

“This cheap propaganda must stop and give way to serious minded people like the NPP who think big and dream big to move Ghana forward,” the statement said.

They called on Ghanaians to give Nana Akufo-Addo and his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia a chance to lead and propel the nation forward.