Trust me, only the likes of Uncle Oliver can be persuaded to reject Free SHS

As we head towards the 2020 general elections, one policy that will most likely come under needless attack during the electioneering campaign, is the poverty alleviation Free SHS.

After all, didn’t the NDC operatives blissfully campaign against the poverty reduction Free SHS policy with unabashed disgust during the 2016 electioneering campaign?

Certainly, the sceptics will fight tooth and nail to discredit the policy so as to score political points, but some of us, as a matter of principle, will move heaven and earth to confute any vile propaganda intended to bring down such an advantageous policy.

In fact, it would only take a disputatious character to challenge the fact that the NDC faithful, who take pride in the social democratic ideology, are not in the business of promoting the welfare of the masses.

The phraseology, political ideology, is used as a descriptive label for a set of ideas and values about political parties in a democratic dispensation.

Political ideology, therefore, encompasses the body of ideas that undergird the conduct of political parties.

One would have thought that individuals who pride themselves as social democrats will be extremely empathetic to the needs of the masses, but this is not the case with the NDC as a party.

It is an open secret that the NDC has a penchant for running down or cancelling crucial social interventions. It is a sad case of social democrats who do not know how to initiate and manage social interventions.

There is no denying or hiding the fact that the erstwhile NDC government wilfully cancelled/collapsed the Nurse’s Allowance, the Teacher’s Allowance, SADA, GYEEDA, NHIS, the Maternal Care, the School Feeding programme, the Mass Transport System, amongst others.

Given the circumstances, it will not come as a surprise at all, if the future NDC government decides to cancel the programme altogether.

Since the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution, the self-proclaimed social democrats have been opposing social interventions that have been proposed by the successive NPP governments such as the Free Maternal Care, the NHIS, the Metro Mass Transport, the School Feeding Programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), , the Free SHS, amongst others.

So there is nothing out of the ordinary if the NDC operatives put up fierce resistance against the seemingly advantageous Free SHS scheme.

It is, therefore, fair to stress that the NDC faithful do not fancy the Free SHS, and hence moving heaven and earth to bring down the expedient poverty alleviation policy.

In fact, the opposition NDC operatives relentless protestations against the Free SHS implementation should be a wake-up call to discerning Ghanaians.

Sometimes, one cannot help but to admire some of our politicians for their incredible dexterity in systematic propagation of propaganda.

Let us admit though, the never ending display of hypocrisy by the NDC loyalists is mind-boggling.

What is more pleasing to some of us though, is that, the social mobility improvement Free SHS policy will at least provide a sound and congenial environment for the students to develop to their full potential and to have a reasonable chance of leading productive and creative lives.

However, we cannot vouch for the sustainability of the free SHS policy, should Ghanaians make a terrible mistake and hand over the poverty alleviation free SHS programme back to the NDC in the near future.

Our fears stem from the fact that since the implementation of the free SHS policy by the NPP government, the minority NDC operatives have gathered momentum and called uncountable press conferences with the view to discrediting the policy’s implementation.

Somehow, the minority NDC operatives prefer “progressively free” (whatever that means) to NPP’s comprehensively free.

In fact, unless I come across as the worst performer in mathematics, I cannot fathom how and why the NDC’s GH48 per student is better than the NPP’s GH1844.27 per student a year.

Whatever the case, some of us cannot accept the minority NDC operatives somewhat sophistic argument. Well, they may choose to call it progressively free or comprehensively free, the fact however remains that the policy will return huge benefits in the long run.

Frankly stating, the vast majority of Ghanaians will benefit immensely from the policy, including my maternal uncle, Oliver, a diehard NDC supporter, who had earlier criticised the apparent poverty alleviation Free SHS.

But despite my uncle Oliver’s needless and never ending pessimism, he is likely to reap tremendous benefits, and will most likely decline to endorse Mahama to cancel such an advantageous policy.

Apparently, credible sources have it that the government will spend a staggering amount of GH5532.83 over a period of three years on each student.

So, my uncle Oliver, who has three of his children in SHS, will be pocketing not less than GH16598.49 over three years.

Who can then persuade my maternal uncle to turn down such a juicy offer and vote for the unrepentant critic of the Free SHS who is set to abandon the policy?

It is quite unfortunate to observe how some Ghanaians could easily give in to the manipulating politicians vague rhetoric and vile propaganda designed to advance their vested interests.

My maternal uncle, as a matter of fact, was amongst the millions of impoverished Ghanaians who were brainwashed by the cunning and manipulating politicians to reject the poverty intervention Free SHS offer during the 2016 electioneering campaign.

The fact of the matter is that if everyone else’s had voted the same way as Uncle Oliver did, I am not sure his three children would have benefited from any free SHS.

In ending, I, for one, do not anticipate Uncle Oliver and the likes benefiting from the Free SHS policy should Ghanaians make a terrible mistake and hand over the poverty alleviation Free SHS policy back to the NDC government in the near future.

K. Badu, UK.

k.badu2011@gmail.com