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Why is the government paying my children’s school fees when I didn’t ask for it? – John Awuah
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah, has called on the government to review some of its flagship programmes, especially now that the country is experiencing economic crisis.
According to him, the Free Senior High School programme in its current state, is wasteful and does not help the current dire economic situation in the country.
He stated that the government could review the Free SHS policy such that it only targets community day schools and the needy in society.
He said, “Why is the government paying my children’s school fees? I did not ask for it. Why is Free SHS free for me? Why is it free for people like me and a lot more people who have not asked for it?”
He noted that the poor implementation of the Free SHS policy was due to the lack of reliable data on Ghana’s demography, leading to blanket implementation of social interventions.
“We always hide behind the absence of data and every social intervention we do blanket application to both the rich and the poor. So the rich put their children in primary schools and pay thousands and thousands of school fees and then when they get to secondary school they get it for free.
“I can’t just bring myself to understand this. There is a way of finding out brilliant, not even brilliant, the needy students, and the needy parents whose wards in the secondary school may need support,” he said.
He added that it is only in Ghana that the government is offering free boarding facilities to students.
“And one other thing, there is no country, I’ve done my checks, no country under this sun that gives free boarding education. America doesn’t do that, the UK doesn’t do that, Australia doesn’t do that, Germany doesn’t do that, these are the countries we visit to take money to subsidise our education and then we give free boarding education.
“Free breakfast, free lunch, free supper, free uniform, free shoes, free books, free tuition, electricity, water from a poor country? I’m not sure that is how you solve a problem when you’re sitting on a huge fiscal gap and all you’re doing is taking actions that will further broaden the fiscal deficit,” he said.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
