Spokesperson for the John Mahama campaign, James Agyenim Boateng, has expressed surprise at President Akufo-Addo’s claim that former President John Mahama intends to collapse the Free SHS policy if given the chance to be President again.
Reacting to Mr. Mahama’s assertion that he will review the policy and the corresponding double track system if he wins power, the President said the stance of his predecessor sends fears to him over the policy.
“I am alarmed by this concept of review. This is because, anytime our political opponents try anything of this sort, it leads the policy in question into coma. We all remember the NHIS one-term premium payment review pledge. Not only did the review not materialize, but they also succeeded in degrading the policy,” the President bemoaned.
He continued, “I honestly suspect reviewing the Free SHS policy means collapsing it. But, I doubt the Ghanaian people will allow this brilliant policy to be collapsed by anyone.”
Responding to the fears of the President, the former deputy Information minister told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday that review of public policies are consistent with good governance.
“As you would know, free SHS is a very important public policy and it’s an essential pillar of public policy that just occasionally, you would want to look at the policy and do a review in terms of what is right, what is wrong and what can be done differently.
“So, it is consistent with public policies that reviews are carried out. So for me, I have a difficulty with his Excellency the president expressing his views on John Dramani Mahama pointing out that the policy of free SHS requires a review; and that advice is not being needed by the current administration, following which when he takes over the reins of power in 2020 he would convene a stakeholders forum to carry out the review of the policy. So the important point is to understand that a review of public policy itself is consistent with public policy,” he stated.
He stressed: “I am a bit surprised because this is a president who has a full time ministry on monitoring and evaluation, indeed if public policy cannot be reviewed then what is the monitoring and evaluation ministry doing? This is a very important question that the good people of Ghana must be asking because monitoring and evaluation is not for nothing, it is to look at how far you have gone with a policy, what its challenges are and what needs to be done differently”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
