How can I be against Free SHS when I started it? - Mahama asks

Former President John Dramani Mahama has said the ruling Akufo-Addo-led government has consistently engaged in deliberate distortion of facts, as far as conversation around the free access to Senior High School education is concerned.

Responding to questions on his propositions about the future of the Free SHS policy, he said his detractors, most of who are in the ruling government, have on several occasions accused him of planning to scrap the policy.

However, he has insisted that he cannot possibly find any delight or reason in doing so when he first initiated the Free SHS policy.

In an interaction with Class FM, the former president said, “This government has a lot of doublespeak when it comes to Free SHS, well they say I left a debt of GH¢39 million on implementation of free SHS…The point I’m making is that how can I be against Free SHS when I started Free SHS? progressively though. But I started Free SHS so how can I be against it…”

“They said no, you didn’t start Free SHS yet they say you left a debt for Free SHS in the 2015/2016 academic year…,” he wondered.

The former president was keen to reemphasize that he has not hatched any plans whatsoever to abolish the Free SHS initiative; but what he will eliminate is the double-track system which runs in tandem with the policy by accelerating the completion of more schools.

John Mahama believes the nauseating double-track system has in some ways shackled the smooth operationalization of the Free SHS policy.

“If the schools we were building had been continued, we’ll not have double-track today and so our strategy is that some of the schools that are near completion…it won’t take much to complete them,” John Mahama said.

The Free SHS policy was fully implemented in September 2017, barely a year after the Akufo-Addo-led government took over from the Mahama administration.