President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he deserves four more years in office to finish the works he and his government began in his first term.
Speaking to the chiefs and people of Weija Gbawe on the second day of his three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region, the President said: “Nii, it will be difficult for me, you know I am a politician, to come here with an election around the corner and not say something about the election. We are looking for Tina to come back to the house with an even stronger mandate and she should come back with her mandate and a mandate for Nana, four more for Nana, so, we can continue the foundation that we are laying for Ghana”.
“It is important that all the strong work that has gone on to reconstruct our economy, laying the foundation for Agriculture and for industry and our education and health system, we should be able to continue for the benefit of the Ghanaian people”, the President said.
Just recently, the President called on Ghanaians not to give the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) the governance mandate in the 2020 general elections since the party, according to him, intends cancelling the free SHS policy.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the NDC wants to scrap the free SHS programme under the disguise of reviewing it.
Speaking at the 70th-anniversary celebration and speech and prize-giving day of Prempeh College held on Saturday, 30 November 2019 in Kumasi, President Akufo-Addo said: “The people of Ghana will not allow the dreamers, who have still not woken up from the slumber of their defeat in 2016, to come and cancel it under the disguise of a so-called review. I take comfort in the words of the holy scriptures in Ecclesiastes 11:4, and I quote: ‘If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.’”
Mr Akufo-Addo said 1.2 million children have currently been enrolled in SHS which has been the highest enrollment in the history of the country.
He noted that from 2016 to date, over 400,000 more students have gained the opportunity to enrol in SHS after the free SHS policy was implemented and that his government intends to make sure no child is denied the opportunity to enjoy SHS education by reason of poverty.
Touching on infrastructure, Nana Akufo-Addo said his government has commenced the construction of 972 structures, comprising classrooms, dining halls, assembly halls, sanitary facilities, and dormitories in schools across the country, adding that sufficient provisions have been made in the 2020 budget for the construction of the facilities.
He disclosed that the government is also providing a total of 1,190 vehicles made up of 350 buses and 840 pickups to schools across the country.
The President said the government will continue to address the problems that have arisen from the implementation of the free SHS while ensuring quality education in the country.
