Free SHS will give NPP 2.4 million votes in 2020 – Michael Nsowah

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has set its hope of annexing the 2020 presidential poll high on the over 1.2 million Ghanaian children and their parents who would have directly benefited from the Free Senior High School policy by then, MyNewsGh.com has gathered.

The debate as to whether the Free SHS policy would be a deciding factor in the next general election has been raging on in the country in recent times, as the two main political parties, the NPP and the NDC have been at each other’s throat over who takes credit for the policy and who would ensure its sustenance as long as they continue to dominate Ghana’s political atmosphere.

But the Chairman of the Ghana Education Service Council, Mr. Michael Nsowah has been explicit about the expectations of the ruling party from the beneficiaries of the policy and their families, saying “they would show appreciation with their votes in 2020”.

His comments follows what the NPP has described as a “U-turn” by the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama that, he is “determined to make secondary education a beneficial and qualitative learning experience more than the current miserable conditions our children are having to face, under the Nana Akufo-Addo administration."

"Free SHS is here to stay! It is underpinned and guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and it cannot be reversed by any government.”

Mr Nsowah was speaking with Kwame Tanko on Angel In The Morning on Wednesday monitored by MyNewsGh.com, about whether former President John Dramani Mahama, would have a chance to implement his trumpeted “review” of the policy should he come to power after the poll in 2020.

“No way; at least the 1.2 million children and their 1.2 million parents would show appreciation; that means we have 2.4 million votes already, but we are no relying on the arithmetic because the constituents on the ground would bear testimony to the changes they have experienced under the Akufo-Addo regime and make a decision”, he said.

The experienced educationist and former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service also noted that, “I don’t know what year Mr Mahama can come to power, if he even would at all; but I’m assuring him that by whatever time he comes to power, the Double Track system would be a thing of the past”.