Free SHS not a political gimmick – Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has said his flagship educational policy -Free SHS – is not a political gimmick.
According to him, education and skills training are the most
important source of empowering and providing opportunities to the youth
to help drive Ghana’s development, and in the process create jobs.
He said countries that have done well, even without natural
resources, are the countries that have invested in education and skills
training, and it is for this reason that his government has found and
committed resources to begin the Free Senior High School policy in
September, 2017.
“So as from September this year, anybody entering the public Senior
High School system is going to get their education free. The burden is
being taken on by the State. We are doing so because we believe that
having access to education, empowering our human capital, is our biggest
challenge,” he said.
The President continued, “If we are able to do that, within the
shortest possible time, and expose our young people to education,
especially to new digital technology, it becomes the fastest way to
bridge the gap and pull ourselves out from the poverty in which we are
in today.”
President Akufo-Addo reiterated that “the commitment for Free SHS was
not a political gimmick. I kept saying it in my campaign, but my
opponents will not agree with me. It was not a political gimmick. It is a
development tool for our country, so that we put the country onto the
path of progress and prosperity.”
The President made this known on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, when he
addressed the Ghanaian community resident in Belgium, as part of his
visit to that country, ahead of the conduct of the meetings of the
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocates Group of Eminent
Personalities.
Revival of NHIS
On the revival of the National Health Insurance Scheme, President Akufo-Addo noted that his government has found it necessary to find the money to stave the scheme off collapse.
“The scheme has been threatened by mismanagement and by huge
indebtedness. We are now having to liquidate systematically the arrears
so that the service providers can be encouraged to provide services for
NHIS card holders. I am hoping that within 18 months, all the arrears of
the NHIS would have been settled, so that we can have a secure future
for the scheme,” he said.
Fight against galamsey
Touching on the fight against galamsey, President Akufo-Addo acknowledged that Ghana, for many centuries, has been a country of mineral deposits and the exploitation of minerals.
“We are not trying to ban mining in Ghana. We cannot do that. The
mineral deposits in our country are part of our heritage, and are meant
to be exploited for the benefit of this and future generations,” he
said.
What his government will not allow, however, the President indicated,
“is to allow the mining to compromise the future of our country,
compromise our environment and destroy and pollute our water bodies. We
cannot do that. If we do that, we will wake up tomorrow with no country
to live in. I am not going to be part of any such arrangement.”
He continued, “So, we have identified illegal small-scale mining as
the target for the fight against galamsey. We want to make sure that not
only do we stop it, but the people who are involved in it find
alternative employment.”
With the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and
Innovation, Prof. Frimpong Boateng, heading a Cabinet Committee which is
identifying alternative sources of livelihood for persons involved in
illegal mining activities, President Akufo-Addo noted that the proposals
which are in the pipeline include using “galamseyers” to reclaim the
lands, as well as offering them incentives to go into farming.
“Having begun it, we are not turning back until we make sure that our future is protected,” he stressed.
Source: Flagstaff Hse. Comm Bureau
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