The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akuffo Addo says the nation can afford to fund the free Senior High School policy, if government cuts the wastage and corruption in the country.
“Virtually everything that has to do with public policy, governmental policy has to do with the management of public finances. If your public finances are deficient, you are not in a position to do a lot of things…If you are able maintain the discipline that you have to exhibit and run things efficiently especially when you are dealing with the issues of corruption and discouraging and not encouraging corruption, you will find out that at the end of the day, that you have got the monies that you allow address these matters, the three-time presidential candidate said.
[contextly_sidebar id=”jpTIf9XpuDi375z0GGqQnx0VwiZzFEt4”]The free SHS policy which was the dominant campaign message by Nana Addo in the run up to the 2012 election was shot down by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on grounds that it was not feasible.
However in what many described as a U-turn, President John Mahama government has introduced a free day SHS policy.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show Nana Addo stressed that the policy is germane to the development of the Ghana’s human resource.
“The reason why the High School policy resounded was first of all because it responded to a need. A lot of people were finding it difficult to get access for their wards into the secondary school system. One; because of the limit and secondly because of the difficulty of money so it resounded because it was responding to a need.”
He also spoke on the School Feeding Programme, saying it “cannot be met,… because fundamentally our public finances are in disarray.”
” For instance you are talking about not having the money for the feeding of people. That doesn’t happen in Kufuor’s time. In Kufuor’s time he brought the school feeding programme into being and the time he was in office, money was there for it to be paid. Why was that?Why is it not being paid today. Why do we have this widespread arrears in statutory payments across the economy. There is something there that we need to look at…” Nana Addo noted.
The former Attorney General also said he will set-up an office of independent prosecutor to deal with corruption and declare his assets publicly when voted into power.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah