Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister

The acting Auditor-General(A-G), Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, has expressed satisfaction after the inspection of documents in the office of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, on the US$1M Kroll and Associates Limited case.

This development comes a day after the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo began his 167 days ‘forced’ leave following an order from the president.

The Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, reacting to his forced leave, on July 1, revealed that the Supreme Court had given his lawyers 10 days from 24th June 2020, to inspect the Senior Minister’s documents on the Kroll deal before returning to the court.

A signed letter by the acting Auditor-General, addressed to the office of the Senior Minister and sighted by the GhanaWeb stated that “reference to our letter dated 25/6/2020 and yours dated 30/6/2020 and the inspection of documents in your office on 2/7/2020”.

“We wish to state that we are satisfied with the processes and therefore propose that the lawyers inform the Supreme Court accordingly to enable both parties go back to the High Court to continue with the proceedings in that court”.

In 2019, Social Commentator and controversial musician Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, asked the Supreme Court to declare as illegal, the government’s decision to pay $1m to UK-based Company Kroll Associates.

A-Plus wanted the apex court to essentially back the position taken by the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo.

This was after the Auditor General, claimed that Yaw Osafo-Maafo and the Finance Ministry colluded to pay UK firm, Kroll and Associates Limited, US$1 million for no evidence of work done.

The UK firm in 2017 was contracted by the Senior Minister to recover assets from identified wrongdoers, among others.

According to the Senior Minister, the firm had done the work it was contracted to do and that there was enough evidence of work done.

But the Auditor-General in its annual report on Public Accounts of Ghana (PAG) as of 31 December 2018 on the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) stated that: “during our review of the contract with Kroll Associates, we noted that though there was no evidence of work done, the ministry, in 2018, paid an amount of US$1 million (the equivalent of GH¢4,890,000) to the company”.

The report added that there were inconsistencies in some of the documentation. It said, for instance, “though the contract was signed in September 2017, some of the invoices attached to the payment vouchers predated the award of the contract”.

The A-G’s report stated that in view of the non-performance of Kroll Associates in executing the contract, the agreement should be “abrogated and any money paid to the company recovered immediately”.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is President of the Republic of Ghana

The office of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has responded to Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, following his public chronicle to the same on matters relating to his mandatory leave directive.

Mr. Domelevo, in a statement dated 03, July 2020 and addressed to the Presidency said, tenets of the country’s law flaw the President’s directive to him, to take a mandatory 132-day leave.

He suggested that the directive was made out of bad faith and was resultant of his work which was ‘embarrassing government’.A rejoinder from the presidency however seeks to deny same, attributing Mr. Domelevo’s response to ignorance of the laws related to the subject.“The President has at all times acted based on sound legal principles, the rule of law and good governance practices and the good people of Ghana cannot be misled by your lack of understanding of the position of the law, for which you may be forgiven since you are not a lawyer.”In a statement signed by Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President, and dated 3rd July, 2020, also citing the Labout Act 2003, Section 31 specifically, they noted that Mr. Domelevo could not forgo his annual leave and any agreement to relinquish his entitlement to annual leave or ‘to forgo the leave is void’.They further noted, that per the holdings country’s courts, and the interpretation of the said Act, the ‘annual leave is mandatory and that one of the purposes of Section 31 is to prevent the worker from converting his accumulated annual leave to cash to the detriment of his health and wellbeing.’

“Thus, your assertion that you may waive your entitlement to annual leave is unlawful and misconceived,” parts of the statement read.

The statement described components of the A-G’s letter as ‘unfortunate’, considering his position, whilst establishing the reasoning behind the President’s directive.“The assertion that the decision for you to take your accumulated annual leave was not taken in good faith is also unfortunate and without any foundation. The Office of the President did not know that as part of your duties is to keep a record of appointees of the President who have not taken their annual leave since 2017, such that you can make the false claim of selectivity. You can be assured that the decision for you to take your accumulated annual leave was not taken in bad faith. Rather, your own publicization of your deteriorated relationship with your Board which notified you severally of not taking your annual leave, the President was the only person vested with the constitutional power to direct you to proceed on your accumulated annual leave,” parts of the statement read.They maintained that “the directive of the President stands” with an amendment to 167 instead of the initial 123 days since he added 2020 as part of the leave, in his response to the President.Source:www.ghanaweb.com

Carlos Ahenkorah toured his constituency despite knowing he has tested positive for Coronavirus.

Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah has resigned from office as Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, the Presidency has announced.

His resignation comes barely hours after he admitted in an interview that he visited some voters registration centres in his constituency despite knowing he has tested positive for Coronavirus.

“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday, 3rd July, 2020 accepted the resignation from office the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, MP, which takes immediate effect,” a statement signed by Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications, Office of the President read.

It continued: “This follows the admission by the Deputy Minister of his breach of the COVID-19 protocols, when, as a person certified to be positive for the virus, he visited a registration centre in his constituency before the period of self-isolation was complete.”

Mr. Ahenkorah had in an interview on Eyewitness News, July 2, mounted a spirited defence for his action. He insisted he did not err because he was cautious during his stay at the registration centres.

“Yes, I have COVID-19 but on the first day of the registration, there was a problem at one of the centres. But knowing my status that I am asymptomatic, I visited only one centre to check on the issue. I never got in the midst of people,” he said.

“I drove in my car and got there, got down and spoke far away with the EC officer who explained the issue to me. I told her I will report this to their boss and then I just left. I was very careful. It is important for people like us to know their status because whether you like it not, we will go into the midst of people.”

“I spent a night at Korle Bu to be checked on by the experts at the Isolation Center. My doctor took my samples and asked me to go into self-isolation which I have been since last week.”

Ahenkorah’s decision and subsequent defence caused outrage. A section of the public expressed discontent with some labelling him as ‘callous’. They could not fathom why a public official would violate preventive protocols and refuse to accept his wrong.

The lawmaker occupied the number one spot on Twitter trends from Thursday evening and maintained his position Friday with #CarlosMustResign.

Early Friday, reports were rife the President had given Ahenkorah who was diagnosed with the deadly disease on June 23, an ultimatum to resign or be fired.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has entreated “all of his appointees to bear in mind that they are to provide leadership, at all times, for adherence to the protocols that have been established to help the nation defeat COVID-19.”

Source:www.ghanaweb.com

Dr. Brenya Wiafe-Akenten, Coordinator of the Anti-Stigma Campaign at the Ghana Psychological Association

The Ghana Psychological Association, as part of the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund’s efforts to reduce the incidents of stigmatization against COVID-19 recovered persons, frontline workers and their family members, has trained about three hundred and fourteen (314) NCCE staff to educate Ghanaians on stigmatization and provide support for COVID-19 stigmatization victims.

This initiative, as part of the awareness campaign dubbed ‘Let Love Lead.

End The Stigma’ seeks to change people’s mindset about COVID-19 and debunk myths and misconceptions about recovered persons and their families. It also aims to reduce fear, communicate support for frontline workers and encourage everyone to play their role in the fight against stigmatization.

The three-day virtual training focused on the general knowledge on COVID-19 related psycho-social challenges and the most appropriate way of educating Ghanaians across the country, the psychological impact on persons who are stigmatized after recovery and the myths around COVID-19 recoveries.

The 314 persons who were part of this training have been equipped with the requisite knowledge to educate Ghanaians across the country.

Coordinator of the Anti-Stigma Campaign at the Ghana Psychological Association, Dr. Wiafe-Akenten, noted that the association had observed the stigmatization against recovered persons and their families and believe that this phenomenon will undermine the efforts in fighting the virus.

Hence, the need to train people who will sensitize the communities on the adverse effects of stigmatization on recovered persons and their families.

“We believe that partnering with the COVID-19 private sector fund to campaign against the stigmatization of recovered persons is a great way to support stigmatized persons and their families. We wish to intensify education against stigmatization.

This is why we have trained staff of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to preach the love message.

This is important if we want to win in the fight against COVID-19. We also entreat all to support the ‘Let Love Lead. End The Stigma’ campaign”, he said.

According to some of the NCCE trainees, “It was really an insightful, impactful and useful training programme. Our knowledge on COVID-19 and stigmatization have been sharpened to help us educate people.

We have already started the education and we hope to see progress after the campaign.”

The ‘Let Love Lead. End The Stigma’ anti-stigmatization campaign is an initiative of the COVID -19 Private Sector Fund, sponsored by the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC), with support from the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and Global Media Alliance.

Source: Ghana Psychological Association

Former president Jerry John Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings is admonishing Ghanaians to be extra vigilant as the country prepares to go to the polls in December, lest Ghana crumbles under terrorist attacks.

Pointing to “credible intelligence” attributed to several sources, the former military leader reiterated that Ghana is on the radar of terrorists.

“Our country faces a real threat of terrorism with the heightened attacks in neighbouring countries,” he warned.

The precautionary message was contained in a statement issued by former President Rawlings on Wednesday.

He maintained that it would be a fallacy for the country to think it is insulated whilst it neigbours are being bombarded with terrorist attacks.

“As Ghanaians we can no longer procrastinate on the matter of terrorism and assume we are insulated from the reality. The time has come for heightened vigilance by every Ghanaian as we enter a vulnerable period leading up to the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections.”

Touching on the recent deployment of heavy military at Ghana’s borders, especially in the Volta region much to the chagrin of residents there, Mr. Rawlings prayed for collaboration to avoid the situation being exploited by terrorists.

“While we undoubtedly are nervous about the deployment of the military and other security agencies across our border areas, ordinary civilians can better guarantee their safety when we keep our ears and eyes open for suspicious movement and activities across our vast borders.

“In the same vein, I once again urge the military and other agencies deployed in the border regions to perform their roles above reproach and be sensitive to the mood of the people of the border areas who are already reeling under the pressures of Covid-19.

“Any unease and mistrust between the military and communities along the border areas will only create an opening for those engaging in terrorist activity to slip through, increasing the threats to our country. Cooperation and sharing of intelligence is key to confronting the challenge.”

A must read story

File Photo

He escaped from his mother’s womb at the latter part of 1970’s, that can be said to be far from long ago. Many had happened in our political space before he was born and a lot was happening when he was born, throughout those times that he was insensitive to the major events happening around him.

His age struggled with maturity until the year 1996 when the 1992 constitution of the republic of Ghana recognized and included him amongst those wise people who could make decisions in the country with their thumbs. With such opportunity, he became glad enough to participate in decision making in the 1996 general elections held in Ghana. He got himself a voter’s identification card during the Registration by the Electoral commission.

Prior to the elections, political activities and campaigns occupied all the media houses in the country and the only political parties he could hear were the ruling party and one other vibrant party in opposition, the rest sounded to him like *political funerals* not political parties, because lose is what he believed lied ahead of them irrespective of their potency.

As at then, his mind was as light as a plucked leave from a tree which dances in the direction of any and every blowing wind and which does not care about where it lands: whether the place is safer or not. What he heard from the few educated people he knew was that you do not have to join a party, however just vote and vote for a party with good policies. He was so politically naive that he could not differentiate between politics and politricks. However, their statement echoed through his ears to settle at the core of his heart and occupied the colors and powers of his tongue after his mind had also agreed. For these reasons above, he casted his vote haphazardly in the year 1996 and partly his lotto clocked and partly did not.

After voting in 1996, reality exposed the intensity of his ignorance as his expectations began to conflict with reality. He was left with no option than to poke his nose into the concept of politics and to escape from the cave of ignorance. Upon his theoretical investigations into partisan politics and few background checks on the political parties in the country, evidences from his community, constituency and the country Ghana at large abounded him to tie his political garments to one of these two vibrant political parties.

He was received by the members with warmth heart and joyful faces. He did not hesitate for time to fly him to any partisan position before he started converging his capabilities and actions towards the ultimate goal of his party. When communication mounted pressure on him to speak for the party,he did, where debate forced him to defend or convince, he did and where motivation was necessary he did with his intelligence and strength.

At some points in time, his mind became fed up with the mouth since it could reach few Ghanaians and it necessitated the need for his ideas and thoughts to be reduced into writings. Upon all the toils, the party lost the presidential seat and parliamentary seat as well, in his second time of experiencing voting.

He dwelt with the party in opposition and waited for a favor that would befall on his party to get into government.
He helped to reform the party at his branch and the constituency even though he possessed no material position in the party. In fact, space and time will not permit me to spew all his relentless effort within the period the party found its body in opposition.

As time moved in the pace of tortoise through seconds to the height of producing years, the term of office was exhausted by the ruling party as quick as the flash of a lightening. New election was around the corner. Party officials from his constituency and even regional level recognized his efforts and approached him to expand the scope of his efforts into other constituencies to help increase the turn out in favor of their party.

These words of assistance were accompanied by sugarcoated promises that, should the party secure win, the whole earth space would not be enough to contain his reward. These promises ranged from money through cars to the ends of job appointments his degree certificate was light enough to even apply. Indeed, chairman worked from mounting political stages to organizing to researching. At the end of the day, success knock at the door of their party and the sweetness of political power had eternalized their limited toils. The party got the chance to ascend the highest throne of the land. His party came into office at both Constituency and national level. Before the party’s win, politics and sometimes its dirty color had pushed the man to have a negative encounter with people. The love for the party had forced him to defend truths that lacks credibility and that on any good day, this young would not naturally defended. He had wasted time, his own money and other resources for the sake of win for his party.

Disappointment came!!!The most disappointed era in his life!!!. It appeared to him like a rainbow. Those people who United to win for the party had punctuated themselves into beneficiaries and “bene-fools” as he would described it. He sailed from party offices to districts, municipal and metropolitan assemblies but nobody acted like he knew him. He called the top members he had had encounter with, but nobody ever picked his call. He begged for even the least job in government that his certificate could afford but he was never given. He saw those sitting over salts pushing their relatives into jobs. He saw people who never fought for the party taking contracts and milking the state coffers with the born to job ones.

Less I forget, in those times he was working for the success of the party when in opposition, he also saw and experienced one evil thing in his party. When he joined, impact raised its beautiful head in their branch and other areas when his efforts succeed in bringing other young, vibrant and respected youth on board to feed the area and its surrounding with good and better leaders in the future. His efforts continued until some Saints in the party started mocking his efforts whiles others started clapping for him at the wrong side of their palms. It all came into play when advise in the spirit of warning rained from heavens of the good hearted persons within the branch and also from the Constituency level. His efforts was geared towards winning but some branch and Constituency executives saw his efforts as threat, but as to whether the said threat was to the personal benefits or to the collective benefits, only those hypocrite hearts could explain.

In the end he was not paid. He became heart broken. His mind became polarized and felt he needed to quit politics. He felt he should leave the party and join the other party. He felt he did not belong to them and they needed him not. Internally, he wondered why a party that could campaign and beg people for votes and could plead people to join would have executives who hated his own efforts in raising the standard of their party. He felt realized his efforts to help strengthen the hegemony of the party invited enemies in the same party. He saw members from down to top sabotaging his success and painting him black to fellow comrades. He saw people who raised him trying to pull him back again and amputating his game here and there.

*HE DECIDED TO QUIT* but there is this wise one called KAY, who healed all the grievances he had cultivate from this political experience. The words of KAY knocked at his confused psyche and neutralized all his anger and hatred, as KAY systematically created meaning out of what He thought it was meaningless: that those experiences are everywhere and party of human beings and humanly created institutions and organizations like political parties. KAY further explained that wherever there are human beings dealings the following elements exists: love, hatred, like, dislike, hypocrisy, praise, rise, fall, sabotaging etc. Expect and never be too worried because they are part of our nature.

However, KAY advised him to keep following:

(1) _Treat the political party like a organization or club I have joined. Respect everything including the rules and members and above all help fight its overriding objective at the end of the day._

__(2) _Sometimes help the party out of goodwill like the way we help our churches, to achieve its objective and not on conditions like getting money or job in the short run. Otherwise you can disappointed at the end of the day. If opportunity comes and you like, take it and vice versa._
__
_(3) Build your own life and business or education. Have your other plans and targets in life, independent of the politics and view the political party as a club or church you have join, whether they win or not, your life goes on._

( _4) Complain less and act more_ .

_(5) You do not only need position to become a leader: leadership only requires ability to influence._

KWEKU MENSAH AMPONSAH is my name, I hope this creation finds you. I’m sure, if not all, some will reflects on your personal experiences in politics and I believe it will go along way to shape and strengthen you.
Thank you

|KWEKU MENSAH AMPONSAH|
(0504965462)

Col. Festus Boahen Aboagye (Rtd), Security Analyst

A security analyst, has warned Ghanaians not to ignore events leading to civil unrests in countries such as Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire, as the nation approaches the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Col. Festus Boahen Aboagye (Rtd), who is currently a teaching consultant at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), suggested Ghana was not immune from the civil wars in those countries leading to deaths, displacements and the loss of properties.

The former UNDP Consultant, issued the warning after a video showing at a machete-wielding machoman near a ballot box at a polling station went viral.

Checks have revealed the place to be the Asante Akyem South Constituency, and the event to be the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Parliamentary primaries last Saturday.

Distressed at the sight of the machoman at the polling center with a sharp machete, the ex-Military officer, took to his Facebook page yesterday with pictures he had made from the video footage asking “Political vigilantism in 21st Century Ghana: a machete-wielding vigilante at a ballot station?

The security expert charged “If you know the person who said “what happened in Côte d’Ivoire cannot happen in Ghana” or words to that effect, ask him/her to educate himself/herself on the history of countries like Liberia and Rwanda, besides Côte d’Ivoire”.

“This footage is a good example of the narratives of civil wars in those countries, adding “They all happened when the states acquiesced to non-state, rogue elements or were complicit in the extra-state use of violence for parochial political ends”.

The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Prof. Emmanuel Asante, Prof. Kwesi Anin a Director of Research at KAIPTC and Paul Kwabena Aborampa a Senior Programme Officer at CDD-Ghana, had unanimously condemned the act and called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the machoman with the machete.

The three men were speaking on PM Express show on Joy News TV hosted by Evans Mensah on Wednesday.

It was on the topic “Election 2020 and Vigilantism: Assessing the Peace Council’s Comprehensive Roadmap”.

When asked for clarification, Col Aboagye condemned the act and questioned the role of the police at the event.

He is also called for the arrest of the machoman after wondering whether there was no Election Management Security Team in place?

One of his followers Armand-Pascal Mboumba commented “You are absolutely right my brother Festus! These are worrying signs for democracy and peace for a stable state like Ghana. Politicians must take responsibility to stop this immediately.

By Kwaku Amponsah Mensah

Free shs logo

The dernie cri in Ghana political scene today has been the two major political parties NPP and NDC, bragging about their policy initiatives and implementations and priding themselves with these as their remarkable achievements. Whiles the advent of these bragging has created a competition in performance in governance, the horrible side of it has been how policies are initiated and implemented without consulting further logic as to whether some of these policies are not going to be injurious, hurtful and unsustainable in both the short run and long run. For the purposes of this work, policy will mean any plans, strategies or decisions aimed at addressing problems whiles “Politics” will denote the opposite of policy which will mean any plans, actions or decisions with the topmost aim of winning votes .

This write up discusses the free SHS implementation by his Excellency Nana AKUFFO ADDO, weighing it logically after testing it with growth and developmental litmus variables such poverty reduction, Illiteracy reduction etc.

The formulation of the free SHS policy is not a magic done by his president AKUFFO ADDO. In other words, the idea that senior high Schools should be feeless was not worked out by the brains of Nana ADDO or his NPP. The origin of free SHS can be traced to Article 25 of the 1992 constitution which, in summary, states that Ghana should introduce free education in all forms of the second cycle such vocational, technical and senior, in a progressive manner. In fact, even article 25 has it that Ghana should make tertiary education free in a progressive manner. A simple research about who drafted the 1992 constitution will give one information about who and who are the brains behind the formulation of free SHS POLICY.

One thing the constitution is silent about with respect to free second cycle education is on the time frame to implement the policy and the circumstances and conditions to cause such implementation. The Constitution does not point out where the free second cycle education should begin i.e, whether from technical, vocational or senior or is to be implemented at a goal to cover all the second cycle sectors. The free SHS POLICY started achieving its fame in 2008 electioneering campaigns when Nana AKUFFO ADDO used the policy as his campaign mantra, reciting it on every single political platform he staged. Since then the FREE SHS has be part and parcel of the Nana ADDO and the NPP campaigns even today as I speak.

The implementation of the FREE SHS began under the watch of John Dramani Mahama as the president of Ghana. John Mahama limited his implementation to the provisions of article 25 of the 1992 constitution, which prescribed that the free SHS POLICY should be implemented in a PROGRESSIVE MANNER. The word progressive was key to him because it represented and preserved the essence of quality of education whiles increasing enrollment. He began the implementation of the policy by scrubbing the tuition fees whiles expanding infrastructures in existing but less endowed SHS in the country. He also planned on expanding the number of senior high Schools in the country by starting the establishment of 123 out of 200 promised community SHS across the country. He also envisage the need to increase the number of tertiary institutions in Ghana. In my candid opinion, John Mahama failed to sigh warning to headmasters of senior high Schools to deter them from taking unauthorized fees from the students, but it happened so the free was not felt.

Nana Akuffo Addo implemented the free SHS in the year 2017 without ifs or buts. He scrubbed the fees away and adopted the double track system to cater for high enrollment. Without answering the question of quality, President Akuffo Addo’s government has been explaining that better we start the implementation now and solve the problems with it later. Also, if we delay what happens to those who can not afford to pay for their way through? The rationale behind Nana Addo led government in the implementation of free SHS is to clear the finance barrier so that there will be equal access to senior high education by both the rich and the poor.

To be a policy and as a policy, the essence right away from the 1992 Constitution, of the free SHS was conceived to solve multiple problems but the two major problems are high rate of poverty and its associated problems and high illiteracy rate and its associated problems.

High rate of poverty: it is an undeniable fact that most people in Ghana are poor and that they find it difficult to pay for the fees of their children at the secondary School level. The issue of failing to further their education at the second level becomes harmful when considering females for instance, because for such a failure and coupled with high financial difficulties in the home, they end up marrying at the unexpected ages and by ages 35 to 42, they produce abnormal number of babies and spread the same hardship to the next generation and increases the population of the country.

So what must be done?

To make education free because of poverty in the short run, you should also think of ending the poberty in the long run by implementing the policy that will seek to help the person from the second cycle up to the period of securing employment so as to give meaning of tackling the issue of poverty, high fertility, unemployment.

On the issue of high illiteracy, there is high illiteracy rate which also affect the country. Your personal observation will tell you that areas in Accra where the people are elite have good sanitation than where the majority are illiterate. The issue of illiteracy has to do with mental capital needed to use modern technology to increase output in all sectors of the Economy, and also knowing the consequences of our actions and inactions on the environment and how they tend to affect our lives reciprocally.

The issue of high illiterate vis a vis the issue of high poverty rate provide other issues such as poor sanitation, low productivity, unemployment, low economic growth etc.

Now, by tackling these issues the free education as a good policy should have tackled issues from the technical and vocational institutions where not only mental skills are giving but also practical knowledge on certain jobs are given so that graduate could be employed by someone or could employ themselves. In other words, the policy should have been implemented in the technical and vocational sector of the second cycle with the motive of easing financial burdens on poor people in accessing secondary education in the short run whiles reducing poverty in the long run since upon graduation one could employ himself or could be employed. With the issue of illiteracy, the provision such technical and vocational education just like the senior high education will provide the same solution.

A critical look at the FREE SHS implementation by Nana AKUFFO led government indicates a failure in solving these problems as a country.

It appears to be solving the issue of high illiteracy and its associated problems but the hasty implementation of the policy without adequate preparation has birthed the double track system which has posed a serious threat to the quality of human resourced graduates needed to transform their knowledge into solving these problems.
The reduction of contact hours by the double track system has disrupted the quality of education and will probably lead to producing educated illiterates in the country.

It also appears that, the implementation of free SHS by Nana AKUFFO ADDO led government offers no solution to reducing unemployment which has been pulling the legs of our country from attaining development status over years. The trend of theory based education is known for producing graduates whom have been chasing the government and the few private entities for jobs and over the years the number of these graduates have escalated more than normal. The rise in high level of graduate unemployment has even led to interventions like NABCO where graduates are offered undeserved salaries at the end of the month and upon all these, the same government has implemented a programme which will, in the long run, produce more graduates from the same trend of liberal education and compound the unemployment rate.

From the high level of unemployment that will be recorded in the long run, the associated problems would include perpetuating poverty of these people and their family in the long run.

From the same unemployment, the implementation would pose a security threat to our economy. At the current unemployment rate borne out by this liberal education, we have witnessed high robbery cases, scamming and fraud in our country. Popular is the mobile money fraud where intellectuals, in fact educated people impersonate themselves as officials of our telecommunication networks, speaking English like these Telecom workers and dubbing people huge sums of money. We have also witnessed educated people channeling their knowledge into scamming others here in Ghana and beyond. In the long run, the policy will push more of these graduates into these kinds of uncharacteristic professions and posing security threat to our beloved country.
Few of these graduates will make meaningful life out this policy implementation and most of them will not benefit from the policy in the long run. The analysis follow and follow to eternity.

John Mahama’s Response: I will finish the promised 200 community day SHS to abolish the double track system to ensure the quality of the free SHS.
I will make technical education free from second cycle to tertiary level to divert students attention from liberal education which has been injurious to both families and the country. By this, we can tackle the multiple problems at family level and the problems of the country at a goal.

Conclusion: a clear indication of the analysis above shows that the free SHS implementation by NANA AKUFFO ADDO fails to fit into the essence of the meaning of the word “POLICY” by failing to tackle multiple problems in both short run and long run, for that reason it is only motivated by winning the votes of the masses and not to address practical problems elaborated above. It is worth noting that, partial financing of the implementation of this programme is through borrowing, which also poses a threat to a developing country, which economically does not make sense.
For this reason, the free SHS by Nana Akuffo Addo can only be described as popular but hurtful policy and thus it’s politics and not a policy.

By |KWEKU MENSAH AMPONSAH|