Free SHS ‘Jihad’ For Northerners – NPP

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Northern Region has pleaded with former President JjnMahama to desist from making further disparaging comments about the free Senior High School policy, saying northerners cherished the policy and will launch a “Jihad” against anyone seeking to destroy it.

Former President Mahama during his recent tour of the region mocked the implementation of the policy and appeared to cast doubt on its sustainability, noting the policy would be restructured by the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

In response, the Regional Director of the NPP, Mohamed Issah, at a press conference Monday, said Mr Mahama should stop being greedy and allow his northern brothers to also enjoy free education like he had.

“Mr. Former president, we the people of the North would like to plead, that you desist from commenting in the manner you did recently on the Free Senior High School Policy being implemented,” Issah said from a prepared speech, adding, they all saw how the former president mismanaged the country’s education system under his rule.

“We saw how you implemented your own ‘FSHS’ before the 2016 polls. We saw how GH¢38.00 was paid for each student who is mandated to pay sometimes up to GH¢1,000.00 per year. We saw how our children spent time at home whiles their counterparts in other parts of the country studied in classrooms. We saw how students from this part of the country were asked to go home because of unpaid feeding grants by your then incompetent government,” he said.

“We are not ready to get back to those days. We are told how you were moved from the Southern part back to the Northern part of the country, just to enjoy Free Education. Please allow us to enjoy the same privilege as you did. We consider the Free SHS policy as a “Jihad” to us as Northerners,” he added.

The party is also asking Mr Mahama to apologize for also raising false concerns that projects he started had been stopped by the NPP government. Addressing journalists at the party regional headquarters, the Regional Director said Mahama must apologize unconditionally for “his recklessness by selecting wrong gears that reversed the economic progress of the region”.