NDC said 'free things not good' but now fighting to own Free SHS and promising 'Fa Ninyinaa' – Oquaye Jr

Ghana’s High Commissioner to India, Mr Mike Oquaye Jr has said he is surprised that the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which denigrated and cast doubts on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s Free Senior High School promise, is now laying claim to it and even promising more freebies in the education sector after saying free things lack quality.

“We need credibility in order to bring out our policies”, Mr Oquaye Jr told Abdul-Karim Ibrahim on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Wednesday, 2 December 2020, explaining: “It is on record that the NDC said anything that is free is not good”, adding: “NDC went further to tell us, as Ghanaians, that when the thing is free, the quality is bad and if you remember, they brought in Otabil’s tape and JH Mensah and told us it was ‘wishy-washy’”.

“So, I’m very very surprised that this same group are, first of all, claiming that they brought Free SHS and then even to go further to tell us that they believe in free so much that they changed to ‘Fa Ninyinaa’” he noted.

In his view, “That should be OK, but then, first of all, you should come to apologise to Ghanaians and say: ‘What I said about ‘free’ was a misnomer, I was not right; in fact, Nana Akufo-Addo has shown me the light – that free can be good’, and that he [Mahama] said if he had GHS2 billion, he is not going to spend it on free education”.

The NDC announced on Tuesday, 1 December 202 that if elected into office, the school fees of Ghanaian students who will be admitted to tertiary institutions in the 2020/2021 academic year will be absorbed fully.

A statement signed by the party’s National Chairman, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, indicated that the “Fa Ninyinaa” policy was accepted for incorporation in the People's Manifesto based on the recommendation of the NDC’s Education Policy Group.

The statement noted that the “Fa Ninyinaa” policy is an addition to the “Kyemupe” policy cited in the People’s Manifesto, which guaranteed the absorption of half of the school fees of all tertiary students.

According to the statement, the “Kyemupe” policy will only apply to continuing students of tertiary institutions.

“This policy is an enhancement of our commitment in the People's Manifesto to absorb 50% of the school fees of all tertiary students for the 2020/2021 academic year through the “Kyemupe” policy, which will now apply to only continuing students in tertiary institutions in the country,” part of the statement read.

The flagbearer of the party, Mr John Dramani Mahama, is expected to give detailed information on the “Fa Ninyinaa” policy in due course.

Ahead of that announcement, Mr Mahama had said, during one of his campaign tours in the Upper East Region that his government “invented” the Free SHS, which is being continued by President Akufo-Addo and the NPP, adding that the NDC will make it better in its second coming.