Free SHS safer in Bawumia’s hands than Mahama – Kennedy Osei Nyarko

Kennedy Osei Nyarko, the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru Constituency in the Eastern Region, has urged Ghanaians to cast a resounding vote for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in the 2024 general elections.

He said that the NPP leader needed to win the December polls to maintain the flagship "Free SHS" policy.

Mr Kennedy Osei Nyarko accused the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, of plotting to revoke the policy.

He appealed to Ghanaians to prevent this from happening by casting their ballots for Dr. Bawumia in the 2024 general elections.

"The Free SHS policy would be implemented more vigorously under President Bawumia, and Ghanaians may be guaranteed that. Still, former President Mahama and the NDC have criticised the Free SHS proposal and labelled it a swindle.

"Unless you vote for Bawumia to stop them, they plan to abolish or cancel it. That's conceivable," Mr Kennedy Osei Nyarko wrote on his official Facebook wall.

"A vote for Dr. Bawumia means safeguarding the FSHS for many poor Ghanaian families.

"If you are a parent or a young adult, you should be worried about the future of FREE SHS in the hands of the NDC and Mr. Mahama," he added.

He also said the party sponsored over forty adverts in the media against the programme.

"They ran over 40 adverts against free SHS. Today, the NDC and their flagbearer are looking at us and saying that they started free SHS."

"Their prediction of doom for free SHS has not materialised. The results have shown that quality has not been compromised," he said.

He argued that because John Mahama fought against the policy, he could not be trusted to continue with its implementation.

"John Mahama says he will implement Free SHS when elected. Should Ghanaians replace the man who dreamed it, believed it, and delivered it for one who never believed it, ridiculed it and fought against it?

"If Mr. Mahama couldn't pay trainees' allowances in that he had to insensitively cancel it, where would he get over GHS2 billion to fund Free SHS? he quizzed.

"We have no reason to believe the NDC Presidential Candidate's newly proclaimed conversion to free SHS and free TVET.

For eight years, he and his party were loud in their assertions that they did not believe in Fee SHS and free TVET.

They did not like the idea, they rubbished it and they proclaimed that it would destroy Ghana's educational system," he said.

Kennedy Osei Nyarko described the credibility of former President Mahama with regard to the management of the Free SHS policy and the nation's educational system in general as "zero".

He therefore concluded that Ghanaians can trust the NPP when it comes to the fulfilment of their campaign pledges, and advised that they should not fall for the lies and deceit of their opponents.

He reiterated that they in the NPP have a message, and that is simple; they have performed better and delivered on their promises.