Heritage "Fun"
NPP, NDC DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
I'm just an ordinary Ghanaian citizen who when my maker calls me to rest in his bossom today will neither get any gun salute at my burial nor will I be buried by the state. I will be mourned by a few love ones and probably may be buried with a 'good' casket for the sake of the family's image.
But I can't keep mute because I am allergic to hypocrisy which have been the order of the day. Our leaders or 'Misleaders' as described by Prof. P.L.O Lumumba perpetuate all sorts of hypocrisy in running the affairs of the nation.
At the 60th Anniversary celebration of Okuapeman Senior High School, the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo declared that "...by free SHS, we mean that, in addition to tuition which is already free, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no examination fees, no utility fees, there will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free".
The free SHS announcement by the President to be commenced on September 2017 got me dancing *pogene* . Why? Because that single parent in Beo can now have her ward schooled without any financial constraints.
After the announcement by the president, questions on how the policy will be funded arose. Some civil society groups have projected that it will cost the government an estimated Ghs 3.5 billion to implement the policy.
Then the Senior minister announced that the government is considering amending the law of Heritage Fund which seeks to set aside some money for children who are yet to establish their presences on earth from the oil Ghana is extracting today to allow them access to the money to fund the free SHS policy.
Great idea but a clear case of double standards. Why? Because the NPP today in government is different from when it was in opposition. The NPP vehemently kicked against a similar move by the then NDC government to use the Heritage Fund. In Hon. Dominic Nitiwul's own words on citifmonline, he said; "I don't think the NDC will be brave enough or they will master courage to bring that matter to parliament for us to spend time on. I don't think so or to change the law....for the first time, they will really see what the people of Ghana are capable of. We have always been trying to keep this country at peace and we've always been trying to this country up".
Have the NPP suddenly forgotten their position or the main cause of the Heritage Fund?
An answer provided by the Finance Minister later then discarded the claim made by the Senior minister. He assured Ghanaians that the Akufo-Addo led administration will resolve to fund the free SHS without touching the Heritage Fund. Hon. Kwaku Kwarteng reechoed the finance minister's position but was again sharply contradicted by Mustapha Hamid the information minister who sought to justify the senior minister's position.
Are President Akufo-Addo's appointees their own bosses that they can speak without consulting? Lest I forget, the Senior minister can be his own boss because the resource owning people are now in the kitchen.
He was heard on a leaked tape saying "...you have all the resources, but you have no say in the management of your resources... ". I guess that is why he can speak his mind without necessarily consulting the finance minister.
Dear NPP in government now, use your men and women to retrieve our monies from SADA, Bus Branding, Woyomi and the likes to fund free SHS and stop the inconsistency of the information the public needs to consume.
It is interesting to see the NDC playing defensive game today. They saw nothing wrong with the use of Heritage Fund as proposed by their general secretary under their regime but now see everything wrong with the use of same Fund by the NPP today. The hypocrisy in Ghana politics is appalling. The NDC is not against it for the sake of equalization or to see to it that the Fund is maintained for its purpose but because they cannot benefit from it in opposition likewise the NPP did in 2014.
Writer: Abayeta Abugre Richard ( Student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism)
Email : Abayetarichard5@gmail.com
I'm just an ordinary Ghanaian citizen who when my maker calls me to rest in his bossom today will neither get any gun salute at my burial nor will I be buried by the state. I will be mourned by a few love ones and probably may be buried with a 'good' casket for the sake of the family's image.
But I can't keep mute because I am allergic to hypocrisy which have been the order of the day. Our leaders or 'Misleaders' as described by Prof. P.L.O Lumumba perpetuate all sorts of hypocrisy in running the affairs of the nation.
At the 60th Anniversary celebration of Okuapeman Senior High School, the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo declared that "...by free SHS, we mean that, in addition to tuition which is already free, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no examination fees, no utility fees, there will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free".
The free SHS announcement by the President to be commenced on September 2017 got me dancing *pogene* . Why? Because that single parent in Beo can now have her ward schooled without any financial constraints.
After the announcement by the president, questions on how the policy will be funded arose. Some civil society groups have projected that it will cost the government an estimated Ghs 3.5 billion to implement the policy.
Then the Senior minister announced that the government is considering amending the law of Heritage Fund which seeks to set aside some money for children who are yet to establish their presences on earth from the oil Ghana is extracting today to allow them access to the money to fund the free SHS policy.
Great idea but a clear case of double standards. Why? Because the NPP today in government is different from when it was in opposition. The NPP vehemently kicked against a similar move by the then NDC government to use the Heritage Fund. In Hon. Dominic Nitiwul's own words on citifmonline, he said; "I don't think the NDC will be brave enough or they will master courage to bring that matter to parliament for us to spend time on. I don't think so or to change the law....for the first time, they will really see what the people of Ghana are capable of. We have always been trying to keep this country at peace and we've always been trying to this country up".
Have the NPP suddenly forgotten their position or the main cause of the Heritage Fund?
An answer provided by the Finance Minister later then discarded the claim made by the Senior minister. He assured Ghanaians that the Akufo-Addo led administration will resolve to fund the free SHS without touching the Heritage Fund. Hon. Kwaku Kwarteng reechoed the finance minister's position but was again sharply contradicted by Mustapha Hamid the information minister who sought to justify the senior minister's position.
Are President Akufo-Addo's appointees their own bosses that they can speak without consulting? Lest I forget, the Senior minister can be his own boss because the resource owning people are now in the kitchen.
He was heard on a leaked tape saying "...you have all the resources, but you have no say in the management of your resources... ". I guess that is why he can speak his mind without necessarily consulting the finance minister.
Dear NPP in government now, use your men and women to retrieve our monies from SADA, Bus Branding, Woyomi and the likes to fund free SHS and stop the inconsistency of the information the public needs to consume.
It is interesting to see the NDC playing defensive game today. They saw nothing wrong with the use of Heritage Fund as proposed by their general secretary under their regime but now see everything wrong with the use of same Fund by the NPP today. The hypocrisy in Ghana politics is appalling. The NDC is not against it for the sake of equalization or to see to it that the Fund is maintained for its purpose but because they cannot benefit from it in opposition likewise the NPP did in 2014.
Writer: Abayeta Abugre Richard ( Student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism)
Email : Abayetarichard5@gmail.com
Well written
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