John Dramani Mahama has urged the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government to pay all arrears owed to nursing and teacher trainees immediately.
Speaking in Hohoe, Volta Region, as part of his tour, Mr. Mahama says the government must keep its promise to pay nurse and teacher trainee allowances.
“But I will appeal on your behalf – there are those who said they will pay you the trainee allowances and now the trainee allowances are in arrears. So I am standing here in Hohoe on behalf of all the institutions – the nurses and teachers and say Dr Bawumia, Nana Akufo Addo, please the allowances have not come. Can you come and pay them their trainee allowances, NOW?,” Mahama demanded.
In 2016, the Mahama government replaced trainee allowances with a student loan plan, allowing more young people to be trained so that the country could produce more teachers and nurses to meet the gap in schools and health facilities at the time.
“And in 2016, for those of you who listened to me, I said I was willing to put the presidency online as a matter of principle on trainee allowances. And you took your decision and voted against me and I left the presidency without any complaint. But the point is my intention was not to cancel allowances. I said we were going to substitute them (the allowances) with the student loan scheme for you.”
“And so that is still my position. We will put you on the student loan scheme so that you can get the money that you want to finance your education and when you leave school and you get a job, then you can start paying that loan back. If you don’t get a job nobody is coming to follow you to come and pay the student loan. And so that is the position we have in respect of the student loan,” he said.
Mahama’s decision to replace the trainee allowances with Student Loan was received with great opposition from the trainees, who complained bitterly about the hardships it had imposed upon them.
The NPP branded Mahama’s action as a complete cancellation of trainee allowances and promised to overturn it if elected. So in 2017, Nana Addo launched the restoration of the nurses and teacher trainee allowances in Sunyani, in fulfillment of his 2016 electioneering campaign promise.