Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, former Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament has asked government to scrap the Free SHS policy to help free some of the monies injected into program to ease the economy.
He said the flagship policies of government are draining the country financially.
The former New Juabeng South Member of Parliament stated that while he is aware those policies were among government’s top campaign promises, it is not mandatory to implement all of them.
“Teacher and nursing training allowances need to be removed. It was a campaign message though, but there were so many campaign messages that have not been fulfilled your first term you did it fantastically.
“Do you think Free SHS the way it is being run is good? When I was talking about feeding fees, my ten years old son, goes to Agape school… their feeding fee for a day is GH¢ 15 for a decent lunch. Is my son better than those kids in the public schools (who are given GH¢0.97)? So, if you can’t do it, scrap it. These kids when they don’t go to school on weekends you think they don’t eat at home? It will save you (the government) GH¢ 900 million a year,” he noted.
Speaking on Metro TV, an Accra-based television station, monitored by Modernghana News, the NPP stalwart suggested that if government cannot scrap it entirely, it should reshape it and save the country a significant amount of money.
“Why should we be paying for boarding facilities and the rest? So, we can shape the Free SHS somewhat. You have the Free SHS bill of GH¢ 1.9 billion a year. If you can save let’s say GH¢400 million a year that’s huge,” he emphasized.
Source: Modern Ghana
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