Giving buses to schools a misplaced priority – Sir John

A former General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, says the decision by the government to distribute buses to schools in the country is a misplaced priority.

Sir John, as he is affectionately called, says there are no basic teaching and learning materials such as desks, chalks, books, capitation grants, among others, yet the government decided to purchase cars for these schools.

Speaking on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa hosted by Kwame Karikari, Sir John said: “People are sitting on floors for teaching and learning and instead of using these monies to provide them with these basic equipment to aid teaching and learning, the government decided to buy vehicles for them”.

President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday, June 14 during his ‘Accounting to the People’ Tour of the Greater Accra Region presented a total of 500 vehicles to some selected senior high schools (SHSs), technical/vocational schools, special schools, polytechnics, private universities, colleges of education and district education offices across the country.

Speaking on the issue, Sir John explained that the priority of this government is not known because teachers are not being paid, there are no infrastructure, no text books, among others “but you give them vehicles, how would they use the vehicle?”

He cited how nurses and doctors are not being paid, yet government has built chip compounds.

“Who would work in the chip compounds?”

Komenda Factory good but…

The former NPP scribe said the government does not have a sense of shame because the recently commissioned Komenda Sugar factory is not working.

He explained that the factory is good but they have not done enough work to make sure it works effectively for the benefit of the people of Ghana.