Free SHS was a scheme for corruption under NPP – Mustapha Gbande

The Deputy General Secretary for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, says the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) used the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy to engage in corruption.

Speaking on Starr Chat with Bola Ray, the NDC Deputy General Secretary stated that the appointees of the NPP just saw the Free SHS policy as a means to win votes from Ghanaians.

“Free SHS would have helped people, it would have helped people like me who could not afford school fees. When I started school, people would have to help me because my father and mother didn’t have. I have to struggle to pay my fees, and so Free SHS would certainly have benefited the less privileged in society.

“But, to the NPP appointees, it (Free SHS) was basket-weaving to get votes. That is why Free SHS was there, but they fed the students poorly; it was a scheme for corruption. That is why they didn’t mind the infrastructure. That is why people have to pay for free internet”, Mr. Gbande stated.

According to him, because the NPP administration never had any good plans, teachers were not motivated, but “they had to teach your children for free.”

“This was why people said that it was a good vision, but let’s start visibly from what we can contain.

“They (NPP) thought that it was an insurance for them to misbehave in government, but also get people to vote for them. So it was a good vision, but the execution was politically motivated”, Mr. Gbande stated.