Akufo-Addo’s promises were not thought through; no blueprint on financing – Bawah Mogtari

Joyce Bawah Mogtari, special aide to former president John Dramani Mahama, has said the promises that were given to Ghanaians by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when he was campaigning were not thought through.

She stated there was no plan as to how Mr Akufo-Addo was going to finance the projects therefore, he is struggling to implement these policies at the moment.

The former Deputy Minister of Transport was commenting on the delay in releasing funds to the Colleges of Education to feed the teacher trainees.

The Government of Ghana on Wednesday April 20, released an amount of ¢67million to Colleges of Education in Ghana.

This comes after the National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education – Ghana (PRINCOF) said it could not continue feeding the trainees due to huge debts owed by the government.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Wednesday April 20, Education Minister Dr Adutwum said “I am very happy to inform you that government has released ¢67, 942, 652 to Colleges of Education. I know you may have read media reports, there were many calls on us to respond to concerns of PRINCOF. We want to let the country know that the President of the Republic, the Finance Minister and all those who have work hard to ensure various promises made to Colleges of Education are carried through, have delivered on their promise. That is why this amount has been released to Colleges of Education.”

The Executive Secretary of PRINCOF, Dr. Harriet Naki Amui in an earlier letter dated Tuesday, April 19, 2022 sent to the Minister of Education directed that teacher trainees must start to fund their own feeding from May 8, if funds are not made available to them.

This directive has been necessitated in response to the inability of Colleges of Education to make payments for food items supplied to them.

The statement said food suppliers continued delivering supplies to these Colleges of Education for months without payment but they have finally withdrawn their services till they receive the monies owed them.

“Most Colleges now have food items that can last only one week if students are to be provided with three (3) meals a day,” PRINCOF said.

The PRINCOF statement therefore made the following four proposals which take effect on April 23.

“Trainee teachers will be provided with two meals, breakfast and supper only for one week, from April 23 to April 30, 2022, that, Trainee teachers from May 1 to May 8, 2022 shall be given lunch only, that, after May 8, trainee teachers would be asked to provide their own meals until their feeding allowances have been paid and finally, “food vendors will be encouraged to increase the quantity of daily meals they cook for sale to students”.

The statement added that “all these measures are meant to ensure that there is no disruption of the academic calendar”.

Speaking on the New Day show on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes on Thursday April 21, Bawah Mogtari said “Most of these promises are not well thought through and so it becomes a matter of whether we win, and then we can decide how we intend to fund these promises, how we intend to sustain them. If you ask today for a blue print of how we intend to even provide sustenance to these allowances, no ministry can give you one.

“Government itself currently is almost down-and-out of ideas. Our economy is currently not the best.

“In terms of bouncing back, I have no doubt in my mind that very efforts will be made to, at least bring us back to a certain trajectory where we can at least be Okay enough to survive. But we also do know that everybody, the world over has decried Ghana’s rising debt and its unsustainable levels.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana