NPP MP Calls For Suspension Of Free SHS, Others Due To Economic Hardships

New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Akim Swedru, Kennedy Nyarko Osei, is advising the Akufo-Addo government to suspend social programs including the Free Senior High School program (FSHS) so that the government can tackle the current economic hardship.

In a post on Facebook, the MP says such suspensions are drastic measures but would yield money that can be put in more “productive sectors” of the economy.

“Suspend the FSHS; suspend the School feeding program; Suspend the teacher and nursing trainees allowances; suspend the PFJ;

suspend NABCO,” he said.

“If I was to advise the government in taking some drastic measures like I will recommend for the following social intervention programs to be suspended immediately and all monies pumped in other productive sectors of the economy and let’s see what the impact will be,” he said.

According to him, the money yielded from the suspension of these programs can then be put into other productive sectors.

But if the Akufo-Addo government were to do that, it would be the most monumentally failing of the government in the history of the Fourth Republic because those were its main policies and they were campaigned vigorously to win the 2016 elections.

Already, the government’s implementation of Free SHS has left the country’s senior high school education system in a mess with students spending more time at home than in school in a shambolic shift system.

The school feeding program has also been suffering hiccups with some students demonstrating over the poor quality of food, while the Planting for Food and Jobs has been described as a failed policy because it has not been able to improve food security with the Peasant Farmers Association advising Ghanaians to store food while they can due to upcoming shortages.

Other programs promised by the government, including one district, one factory, and one village, one dam, have largely failed after five years in office.