Education Minister Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh
Education Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku-Prempeh has described former President John Mahama as the ‘worst’ head of state in the annals of the country’s political history.
He said “the country is suffering” because of the bad governance of the [ads1]Mahama administration.
His comment comes on the heels of various comments made by the former President over the weekend.
Mr Mahama, after a Unity Walk in the Eastern Region, criticized the Free SHS policy of the government. He also chastised the ruling government for its inability to stabilize the price of petroleum products.
“We were told that it (petrol) was too expensive and that 50 percent of the petrol was made up of taxes alone and that when they win and come into office, they would remove the taxes so that petrol will (be cheaper). Today petrol is selling at GHC 22 per gallon. I am even more concerned about LPG because LPG was about GHc40 before December 7. Today LPG is more than GHc80. What it means is that for those who cannot afford LPG, they will go back to using charcoal and we all know the implications of using charcoal. When you use charcoal, it degrades the environment and so government should do something about the price of LPG particularly,” the former President stated.
Speaking on the Free SHS Policy, he urged government to call for a stakeholders meeting to address challenges facing the Free SHS policy because it is stifling other developmental projects.
According to him, “the Free Senior High School is absorbing all the fiscal space they have and so almost every money you have, you have to put it into Free Senior High School. So you can’t pay District Assemblies Common Fund, you can’t pay NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme), you can’t pay GETFund (Ghana Education Trust Fund), you can’t pay other salaries and things because all your money is going into Free Senior High School.”
Addressing these issues in a one-on-one interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM‘s “Kokrokoo” show on Monday, the Education Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, wondered why the former President did not do his best to put the economy on a higher pedestal when he had the opportunity to be in office as president.
“Mahama is the worst president in history…we are suffering because of President Mahama. His actions resulted in the country being saddled with corruption; create loot and share…” he noted.
The Education Minister, popularly known as Napo, wondered why the former President is not wishing the ruling government well on the Free SHS policy but rather engaging in criticisms.
“I will prefer my children to study on the floor than to sell by the road,” he indicated and urged the former President to advise NDC members not to take their children to school if he feels the Free SHS policy is so bad.