Special Assistant to former President Mahama, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, has distanced her boss from a supposed Midas that the former President promised to give to the Free Senior High School program if he becomes President again.
Responding to a backlash that has been generated over the former president’s reported promise to transform the Free SHS in to something better within 90 days of returning to office as President, Joyce Bawa Mogtari pointed out a sensational spin media reports has put on the story.
“The headline in the above story from StarrFM which has been re—published by other portals including graphic.com.gh and Ghanaweb.com is not a reflection of what HE John Dramani Mahama said at the meeting with the Ghana National Council for Private Schools. As captured in the main part of the story with quotation from Mr. Mahama, he referred to his oft stated position that he will hold a stakeholders forum on how to better and improve the implementation of the Free SHS policy”, Joyce Bawa Mogtari wrote on her Facebook Timeline.
She quoted the relevant portion of the story to back her disclaimer. “Speaking at the meeting with the leaders of the Ghana National Council for Private Schools (GNACOPS) in Accra on Wednesday he noted “Within the first 90 days after I take office as President of Ghana, I will call for the arrangement of a very broad stakeholder and a consultative meeting on the way forward for a better Free SHS.”
The former President’s Special Assistant pointed out that the different impression that reports make on the issue are false. “ The impression the StarrFM gives that Mr. Mahama will abolish or stop the implementation of the Free SHS is therefore false.”
Former President Mahama has come under criticism for allegedly promising a magical transformation of the Free SHS program, a signature program of the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
The most confrontational of the criticisms have come from the NPP, which is keen to flaunt the policy as a trump card for votes in 2020 general election. The NPP capitalizing what Joyce Bawa is calling false reportage of what the former President said, has accused of the former President of wanting to scrape the policy.
However the former President’s Special Assistant says her boss neither promised a magic bullet for the Free SHS nor hinted by any stretch of the imagination that he would scrape it if he returns to power.
