Director of Political Affairs at the Office of the Chief of Staff, Mr Frank Asiedu Bekoe, is challenging the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, to explain how he intends to pay private school teachers, with his plan to include private schools in the Free SHS policy.
Mr Bekoe wonders why a government will want to bear the cost of private schools, especially when such schools are making profits for themselves.
Speaking at a meeting of the Eastern regional communications team of the NPP at Tafo, in the Eastern Region, Mr Bekoe listed the number of unrealistic promises former President Mahama has made regarding the Free SHS policy.
Mahama and Free SHS
Mr Mahama, as part of his campaign ahead of the December polls, has lashed out at the NPP on its implementation of the Free SHS policy, insisting the NDC could have done better.
But Mr Bekoe says it is not enough for former President Mahama to merely promise running the policy better, saying he must also give Ghanaians a breakdown of how he intends to execute the promises.
“How can you include private schools in the Free SHS policy when such businesses are operated with the sole objective of making profits? Who then pays private school teachers?” he asked.
Inconsistency
Mr Bekoe pointed to what he termed former President Mahama’s own contradictory stance regarding the Free SHS policy before President Akufo-Addo implemented it in his first year.
“John Mahama has once said if he had GHC2 billion, he would not spend it on Free SHS and he is now telling us he will include private schools. I am calling on the NDC’s presidential candidate to outline how he intends to carry out all he has promised, especially because he doubted the practicability of the Free SHS policy when President Akufo-Addo said he was going to implement it,” he challenged Mr Mahama.