NDC: Arthur Kennedy’s Fallacious Statement

The Office of, NDC Leader and Presidential Candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, responds to the extremely fallacious statement made by Dr. Arthur Kennedy, Akufo-Addo’s Director of Communications, as regards some statement that the NDC Leader is purported to have made sometime in the year 2000.

Arthur Kennedy, would have the world believe that the NDC Leader, somewhere in Wa, during his 2000 campaign tour, said that, it was impossible for any government to provide free education.

What Arthur Kennedy, out of selective amnesia, forgets, is that, enshrined in the constitution of Ghana, is, the concept of Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education.

With no evidence, Arthur Kennedy has not been able to prove that the learned Professor Atta Mills set aside the constitution of the Land and spoke to the wind.

What the Office of Professor Mills remembers, is that, in response to the vile and uninformed propaganda of the NPP in 2000, to the effect that tertiary education will be free if given the mandate, as a way of inciting students against the NDC government, the pragmatist that he is, the learned Professor Atta Mills made the point that, it was not practicable for university education to be absolutely free.

In those days, the learned Professor Mills, who had spent over 25 years imparting knowledge to students at the tertiary level, espoused the firm position of the NDC that, there was no iota of strength in the, absolutely “free education” propaganda of the NPP.

Today, the Learned Professor has been vindicated because, whiles the NDC believes in cost sharing, the NPP, upon assuming the reigns of governance, has made it abundantly clear that it believes in full cost recovery.

So, wherein lies the logic of Arthur Kennedy as regards Prof Mills not believing in free education?

Maybe, Arthur Kennedy should have relocated to Ghana before the 2000 election and listened to the statements that fell from the lips of NPP bigwigs; he would have spared himself the heaps of embarrassment that he continues to pour on himself via most of his statements that expose his fallacious lines of thought.

Assuming, without admitting, that the NPP government has introduced free education in its entirety, is it a source of pride to the NPP government that 50% of those who sat for the Basic Schools Examinations, this year, failed?

Assuming, without admitting that education is absolutely free, what joy is there in having a system of free education that produces know-nothings?

Besides, there is no way education can be free in its entirety because, pupils and students bear costs that cannot be borne by the state.

At the tertiary level for example, is it not the case that students bear the cost of, photocopying?

So, how can Arthur Kennedy be making noise about the NPP having introduced free education?

As regards the NHIS, it is preposterous for Arthur Kennedy to say that it is free because, a premium is paid.

Obviously, Arthur Kennedy and his NPP government are just interested in the propaganda value of policies, and not in the worth of such policies.

The Office of Professor Mills is reiterating the point that, the likes of, Arthur Kennedy, Kwabena Agyepong, Ohene Ntow, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, and Asamoah Boateng, will not be allowed to get away with their false statements and twisting of the facts in their desperate attempt to paint an untrue picture of Professor John Evans Atta Mills.

Indeed, if Akufo-Addo is depending on the above-named, to use vile propaganda to hoodwink the electorate into voting for another term of, negative change, then, Akufo-Addo will have to rethink his strategy.

Believing in Ghana, and having a vision for Ghana, goes beyond mere rhetoric and sloganeering.