President Should Be Remorseful

President John Mahama
As a sign of gentlemanliness and sincerity, it behoves the President to apologise to the good people of Ghana. This has been necessitated by his unexpected decision to embrace the free SHS, having discovered that after all it is not only a possibility but a project worth undertaking, making his earlier noise in opposition therefore balderdash and politically self-seeking.

On Tuesday Nana Akufo-Addo, the originator of the free SHS concept, during a public lecture had another opportunity to showcase the project which he did by making an insult-free reference to John Mahama's picture of the concept.  Ghanaians remember when he (Mahama) said free things do not turn out to be good; that has changed now and overnight.

Nana tickled his audience when he asked the president to come for education on the project lest he messes it up. We cannot agree more with Nana, having been witnesses to the many initiatives such as the school feeding programme, National Health Insurance Scheme among others, which are today only a shadow of their glorious past with President John Mahama at the helm.

It is worth noting that as Nana said, the announcement about his flagship manifesto entry was the culmination of a painstaking brainstorming involving accountants, academicians and other professionals. Indeed, the confidence he exudes when he delves into the subject says it all about his passion for it and its understanding.

It is abundantly clear that the president's concept of free SHS is one driven by the desperate obsession for political points, regardless of the quality of the end product.

That within a matter of months a president who was able to make as some put it, as many as 60 media appearances in his bid to shoot down the free SHS concept, could make a shameful about-turn, says it all about who he is.

His appreciation of the free SHS concept and its implementation is at variance with the originator who suffered untold personal attacks for flying such a project which as we understand it, seeks to ensure that the Ghanaian child is not denied senior high school education by reason of parental poverty.

While we agree that only a fool does not change his mind under the circumstances, we are dealing with policy issues; decisions about which should be reached after exhaustive analysis devoid of trickeries and lies.

President Mahama, before displaying his newfound love for the free SHS concept, should have presented his compatriots with a preamble containing an apology about how wrong he was after all.

As things stand now, we are sorry to describe the unexpected newfound love for the free SHS as nothing but a fraudulent manoeuvre with no promise.