By William
Yaw Owusu
Wednesday,
November 29, 2017
Former President John Dramani Mahama appears to be
reeling under pressure after suggesting that a future National Democratic
Congress (NDC) is going to scrap the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy of President
Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
The former president is blowing hot and cold air on
the Free SHS, having realized the political implications of his position to
scrap it in the event of him winning the 2020 presidential election.
Mr Mahama said during the NDC’s ‘unity walk’ held for
him in Tarkwa, Western Region, last Saturday that it was not by force for
President Akufo-Addo to implement the Free SHS policy, which experts say is
going to serve as a catalyst for future development of the country.
The ex-president, who is lacing his boots to contest
again as NDC presidential candidate after suffering a humiliating defeat on
December 7, 2016 as incumbent, did not understand why President Akufo-Addo
should implement the programme when he (Mahama) had claimed that the country
was not ready for it.
The NDC had argued that it would take the next 20
years before Free SHS could be implemented.
Mr Mahama pointed out that since it took 15 years to
implement the universal education (F-CUBE) at the basic level, there was no
need to rush for free education.
Tarkwa
‘Sermon’
He took a swipe at President Akufo-Addo for rushing
to implement the policy before hinting of a possible reversal of it by a future
NDC government, saying it is not mandatory.
“Why should the government introduce free education
now when the Constitution says it should be done progressively? In fact, it is
not by force to introduce free SHS now,” Mr. Mahama underscored at Tarkwa.
He said that the challenges associated with the
policy would not cease unless there was a comprehensive funding strategy, and
added that the NPP government should have organized a national stakeholders’ conference
on the policy to enable Ghanaians to make suggestions as to how it could be
implemented effectively.
“But there was no consultation prior to the
implementation of the policy. I want to advise the president that it is not too
late. He should immediately organize a consultative forum to discuss funding
options for the policy as was done prior to the establishment of the Ghana
Education Trust Fund (GETFund) during President Rawlings’ regime and the
National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), introduced by former President
Kufuor,” he charged.
Reaction
However, when he came under fire from his opponents,
the former president has started blowing ‘hot and cold’ air over whether or not
the Free SHS is a good policy for the country.
He posted on social media platform - Facebook - yesterday that a future NDC
government would not reverse the Free SHS policy.
“There are no ‘naysayers’ when it comes to free SHS.
After all, it was recognized and enshrined in our constitution by the ordinary
people of this nation who gathered at the Consultative Assembly and drew up the
1992 Constitution.”
He said the disagreement over the programme “is
about the optimal pace of implementation,” adding “a more carefully considered
plan of implementation adopted by broad stakeholder consultation would have
resulted in clear policies and guidelines, which would have avoided the current
challenges plaguing the programme.....”
The former president observed, “This view is not
mine only. Many in the NPP and non-partisan civil society hold the same
opinion.”
Constitutional
Right
“It is not too late to hold a national stakeholders’
forum on the Free SHS programme in order to carry the whole nation along. The
current legacy-seeking and ad hoc manner of implementation will multiply the
current implementational problems over the next three years.
“The false
publication by a newspaper that the NDC will reverse free SHS is most
laughable, false and diversionary,” he posited.
Mr Mahama emphasized that the Free SHS “is
constitutional, it must be implemented, but it must be implemented properly
according to a clear plan that carries all stakeholders along.”
Previous
Position
When he was ruling the country he consistently ridiculed
the opposition NPP’s Free SHS proposal but after he had realized that the NDC was
going to lose more votes for opposing it, he made a spectacular u-turn in the
heat of the campaign in 2016, saying that his government was also going to
implement the programme because he claimed he had put infrastructure in place
for a smooth take-off.
Yesterday, NPP MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank
Annor-Dompreh, cynically suggested to Mr. Mahama and his NDC MPs to tour the
various constituencies and gauge the backlash it would receive from the public
if they continued to insist on scrapping the policy.
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