Mahama declares 'war' on Free SHS

Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken his strong abhorrence for the successful implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy introduced by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to improve access to quality education in the country to another level.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) chieftain, who is determined to return to the political turf, has allegedly paid handsomely to the Africanwatch magazine to publish a false story, aimed at painting a gloomy picture about the standard of education in the country.

The latest Africawatch publication, which is expected to hit the newsstands in February 2018, mainly aims at lying to the world that the Free SHS programme has adversely affected quality education.

The editor of Africawatch, Steve Mallory, has not hidden his dislike for President Akufo-Addo; and he is ready to go all length to bring the Akufo-Addo administration down.

Prior to the 2016 elections, the magazine carried dirty assignments for John Mahama, including tagging then candidate Akufo-Addo with cancer – all in an effort to make him unpopular – but still the NPP leader won the election hands down.

Mr Mahama, who is desperate to become president again after being ousted from political office, continually worked behind the scenes to stop the introduction of the Free SHS programme last year.

The ex-president has not relaxed even after the laudable policy had been introduced in September last year, as he has clandestinely been working through his agents in an effort to destroy the flagship programme of President Akufo-Addo’s government.

Africawatch Magazine

After all his reported fiendish plans to shoot down the Free SHS programme had failed, Mr. Mahama has now turned to the Africawatch to publish a false story to dent the image of the programme.

The former president is alleged to have parted with a colossal amount of money to sponsor Africawatch to dedicate its February 2018 edition to tear apart the Free SHS programme.

The magazine’s February 2018 edition – a copy of which has been sighted by DAILY GUIDE – has a big cover picture of the Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh aka Napo.

The magazine, which has dedicated about 44 pages to lie about the standard of education in Ghana, has a bold banner headline, ‘Is FCUBE An Achievement?’

The magazine also has another headline on the front page which reads, ‘A 44-Page, Special Report Poor Education in Ghana.’

The author of the magazine also used negative adjectives to describe the Free SHS programme which has led to a sharp increase in enrolment in the various senior high schools across the country in less than one year.

73,000 Copies

Some close associates of Mr. Mahama, who are tired of the former president’s persistent ‘wicked’ plan to destroy the flagship programme for whatever reason, claimed that Mr. Mahama paid to get the magazine published some months ago.

According to them, a staggering 73,000 copies of the February edition of are already in the country being housed in a house at Community 18 in Tema.

They stated that Mr. Mahama had duly paid for the 73,000 copies, adding that he had hatched a plan to get the magazine distributed freely to a sizeable number of people in the country.

The sources hinted that Mr. Mahama had realized that the Free SHS policy is rapidly getting popular in the country and so he wants to use every means possible, to run it down.

They said the former president is therefore hoping that the Africawatch’s report would influence some people in the country to start kicking against it (policy).

Napo Targeted

The Mahama ‘boys’ said he has now added Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh to his hit list of politicians that he (Mahama) wants to destroy.

According to them, Napo is a target for successfully implementing the Free SHS programme.

They said Mr. Mahama sees Napo as the face of the policy, which is now the toast of majority of Ghanaians, therefore any negative reportage about the education minister – who is the MP for Manhyia South – would adversely affect the free SHS policy.

According to them, very soon some foul-mouthed NDC communicators would flood the various radio and television stations in the country, with the sole intention of peddling falsehood to dent Napo’s image.

Mahama’s SHS Agenda

Mr. Mahama’s close associates also disclosed that the Free SHS policy had benefited virtually every household in the country and so if the programme progresses unscathed his ambition to become president again would hit the rocks.

In this regard, the former leader has allegedly decided to use huge amount of money to influence media outlets, which management lack integrity, to publish false stories to destroy the government’s policy.

Mahama’s Past Deeds

Mr. Mahama, it would be recalled, was exposed severally by DAILY GUIDE for working to stop the free SHS programme.

DAILY GUIDE, for instance, had published a story on Friday, April 28, 2017, with the banner headline, ‘Mahama Angry Over Free SHS-Foreign Agents Pop Up.’

The story, which attracted wide publicity and debate in the country at the time, mainly highlighted some foreign agents that Mr. Mahama purportedly ‘imported’ from South Africa to run down the free SHS policy.

DAILY GUIDE again, on April 25, 2017, published another story with the headline, ‘NDC Plans Evil Against Free SHS,’ exposing some of the ‘wicked’ strategies that Mr. Mahama was using to run down the positive policy.