Free SHS, Among Big Government Programmes Up For Review – Oppong Nkrumah Announces

• The call by many experts for a review of the budget-consuming Free SHS programme is set to happen.
• Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said all 16 flagship programmes by the government are up for review.
• The Minister said the plan to review the flagship programmes was part of the decisions taken at the three-day cabinet retreat that ended on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has announced plans by the government to review all 16 flagship programmes, including the Free SHS policy.

During an interview on Citi FM, the minister said that the president had directed his ministers to protect all the 16 flagship programmes and implement them.

However, these should be done with consideration to fiscal constraints.

“If based on the caps that we are working with we will have to rescope a particular flagship program, we will do it and see how much we can achieve,” he said.

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The upcoming review of all 16 flagship programmes is among the “far-reaching” decisions the president and his cabinet took at a three-day retreat held at the Peduase Lodge in Aburi in the Eastern Region.

It is not yet clear how the Free SHS will be reviewed per the decisions taken at the retreat that ended on March 20, 2022.

However, the plan to take a second look at the budget-consuming education policy has been suggested many times by experts.

The president’s own Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has publicly pushed through such a suggestion on many occasions.

Not long ago, Professor Stephen Adei revisited the call for the Free SHS policy to be reviewed, citing the massive cost of maintaining the programme as a factor.

The renewed call by the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, comes at a time when Ghana’s current economic challenges top public discourse.

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Prof Adei singled out the Achimota Senior High School and Wesley Girls High School of some of the top-tier schools in Ghana that should be made autonomous and allowed to charge fees.

Ofori-Atta To Present Outcome Of Cabinet Retreat To Parliament This Week

Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, will this week brief Parliament about the outcome of the recent cabinet retreat on Ghana’s current economic challenges.

The retreat was held at the behest of President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Peduase Lodge and ended on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

The Finance Ministry has said in a statement dated Monday, March 21, that Nana Akufo-Addo approved far-reaching measures to hold the cedi fall, ensure expenditure discipline and bring down inflation and fuel prices.

Source: YEN.com.gh