Mahama Ayariga’s motion is a populist journey to court public sympathy — Majority

The Majority Caucus has debunked claims by the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it did not support the motion to provide reliefs to students of public tertiary institutions.

The Majority also refuted assertions from the NDC that it did not want to build consensus on the issues.

Mr Alex Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, said this at a press conference in Parliament over what he described as a “populist journey by Mr Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, to court public sympathy even before filing the motion in Parliament.”

Mr Ayariga had filed a motion to request the President to take urgent steps to absorb the fees of students of public tertiary institutions for the 2000/2021 academic year.

The relief package was to include accredited private universities as part of the national COVID-19 alleviation measures being implemented by the Government.

On Thursday the House, by a majority vote, rejected the motion on grounds from the Majority Caucus that the Government had already intervened with the fee-paying situation with other relief packages.

Other reasons the Majority gave for rejecting the motion were that it was defective, lacked clarity and not specific with the reliefs being sought.

Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that the Majority was not in opposition of the motion but wanted the House to have a broader view of the matter by ensuring specificity.

“If we really want to do something for the people of Ghana…at a time that businesses are suffering and collapsing and people have become unemployed, your main source is revenue, if you don't have, can you give,” he added.

Mr Afenyo-Markin recalled that while the NPP was talking about the Free Senior High School Policy and its implementation, the NDC was then opposed to it.

He said if there was any government or political party to provide support in the area of education then it was the NPP, adding that the NPP had demonstrated that commitment and the track record.

Also, any relief that ought to be provided would be done in a manner that would get the real benefit of assuring parents and students that the government cared.