November, 2020

The Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama says the Free Senior High School (Free-SHS) programme was started by the NDC government in 2015.

He said the current government poorly implemented the programme, which compelled them to adopt the double-track system, “I assure you, my countrymen, that within one year, I will cancel the double track.”

“We started the programme and the NPP came and continued it. Unfortunately, the implementation has been very poor, and so it ended us in double track,” Mr. Mahama stressed at Tuobong, a community in the Tempane District of the Upper East Region.

The flagbearer, who is also a former President, is on a three-day campaign tour of the Region to galvanize votes in the December 7 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

He said when voted back into government, “All the Community Day Schools we were building, 200 of them, we are going to finish them so that all the children can get schools to attend.

“With the Community Day Schools we are building, we are going to add dormitory blocks for girls and boys so that those who don’t come from the community where the school is sited if they choose that school and they are posted there, they will be able to get a decent place to live and learn.”

On illegal mining popularly referred to as “galamsey,” Mr. Mahama said “If we handle the issue of galamsey properly, we can create one million jobs for young people in this economy, and so NDC is going to come out with a new plan for small scale mining.

He explained that the NDC would map out all Districts where gold mining took place, and in all those Districts, “We are going to establish what we call a Gold Board. We are going to take young people from the University of Mines and Technology who know how mining should be done.

“They are going to come and work with you the small scale miners and show you how to do the mining safely and probably. Let me tell you something, if you are digging a pit to mine gold, you need to take the soil samples and test and see what kind of soil it is. There is some soil that easily carves in. There are other soils that are firmer.

“They will show you how to put support so that the pit does not carve in and bury you underground. That is the work they have been trained to do. They will come and work with you and show you how to do it safely so that we don’t lose any life,” the NDC’s Flagbearer said.

He said after they had finished mining, they would be taught by the graduates how to cover the pits and put the topsoil back on and plant trees on it to reclaim the land, “We are going to enter into a new era of small scale mining, and we are going to do it properly.”

Mr. Mahama said all miners who had their excavators, concessions, and equipment seized, would be collected and given back to the owners, adding that there were lots of potentials for gold mining in the northern sector.

“We are going to explore all those areas and make sure that we open big scale mines that can employ as many of our young people here as possible.”

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, says the Ashanti Region has seen no development under the Akufo-Addo administration despite voting massively for him in the 2016 general elections.

He said the ‘sad and painful aspect of the situation’ is that the President has also refused to complete various developmental projects that the Mahama administration started in the region.

Addressing NDC supporters at Bosomkyekye in the Mampong constituency on Saturday, during NDC Presidential Candidate, John Mahama’s tour of the Ashanti Region, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo said instead of the President building development projects, he has specialised in re-naming projects that his government inherited from past administrations.

“Build your own projects and name them and stop re-naming the ones you didn’t build”, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said.

The NDC’s National Chairman said his party has kept good faith with the Ashanti Region in terms of development projects, including the construction of the Kejetia market, various hospital projects, schools and the Barekese Water Expansion Projects, among others.

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo assured the people that John Dramani Mahama will continue all abandoned projects in the Ashanti Region and will work hard to provide decent and sustainable jobs.

He said Mr Mahama is also committed to protecting the thousands of jobs in the local automotive industry, including those in Suame Magazine, Abossey Okai, Kokompe and others.

Chairman Ofosu-Ampofo said unlike President Akufo-Addo, Mr Mahama is a trust-worthy leader who will not waste state resources.

“Mr Mahama will not waste public resources like we are seeing today where even a chair belonging to the President is having its own fully air-condition car following him everywhere. Mahama is a servant and he is going to serve to promote development for every Ghanaian”, he said.

Mr Ampofo, therefore, urged electorates to vote for Mr Mahama in the December 7, 2020, general elections to enable him create prosperity for all by providing jobs, implementing free primary healthcare for all, free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (T-VET) as well as state-sponsored National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) to equip the youth with employable skills.