NDC women plan demo against Education Minister

Some top members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are planning to organize a female-dominated demonstration against Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh aka Napo.

This is because the NDC members are apparently not happy about Napo’s recent statement that was construed to be an indictment on the immediate past Education Minister, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman.

Napo, who is known for his candid opinion, had disclosed the colossal debt that the NDC government left behind at the ministry under the leadership of Prof. Opoku-Agyeman.

The NDC gurus are not happy because they believe Napo’s statement has the potential of denting the image of Prof. Opoku-Agyeman and the NDC as a political party.

Demo Plot

The NDC top members (whose identities are being kept secret for now), held a secret meeting at a location in Accra last Friday where they hatched the idea to demonstrate massively against Napo.

Per their strategy, they intend wooing more NDC women to sign a petition against Napo for disclosing the rot he inherited as a minister.

The demonstration is intended to take place before the end of this month (November).

Aim Of Demo

The organizers want to use the protest to tarnish Napo’s hard-won image, sources within the NDC disclosed on condition of anonymity.

They said the angry NDC gurus see his (Napo’s) recent statement not only as an attack on Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyerman, but the entire NDC as a political party, and so they want to retaliate.

They also believe the demonstration would benefit the NDC as it would overshadow the huge rot that it left behind at the ministry – which Napo had disclosed publicly.

Napo’s Statement

The DAILY GUIDE carried the story on its front page last week Wednesday.

Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s flagship programme, ‘Ekosii Sen,’ Napo said the ex-education minister’s poor leadership resulted in the piling of huge debts at the ministry.

For instance, he said Prof. Opoku-Agyeman’s poor leadership contributed to the starving of basic schools of consumables such as chalk. He added that the ministry also procured services without making any provisions to pay for them.

Dr. Opoku Prempeh said that the ministry left behind a debt of $18 million through the distribution of yellow buses to schools, adding that a staggering $17 million textbooks debt still hangs on the neck of the ministry.

The minister of education, who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South in Kumasi, said that the ministry is faced with a GH¢10 million debt, which occurred through the supply of chalk.

Napo also disclosed that Special School debt stood at GH¢4.7 million by the time the NPP took over power, adding that the NDC’s so-called free senior high school (SHS) programme also left behind a debt of GH¢33 million.

Paper’s Checks

Meanwhile, painstaking checks conducted by this paper have revealed that whatever Napo said about Prof. Opoku-Agyeman on Asempa FM is the truth.