If you are building markets while teachers are at home, you lack priorities – Gov't told
Former Executive Director of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Kingsley Ofosu Ntiamoah, has criticised the government over what he describes as misplaced spending priorities amid the ongoing teachers’ strike.
He questioned why government would continue to invest in some infrastructure projects while teachers remain at home and other critical facilities, including hospitals, face challenges.
Ofosu Ntiamoah also accused the government of abandoning some road projects inherited from the previous administration, arguing that completing them would reduce travel times and support economic activity.
“If we are building market and teachers are at home, don’t you lack priorities? If we are building market and hospitals are being left there unattended, we only think there are reasons for the market. That is what I’m telling you that they lack priority,” he said on Accra-based Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily programme on Thursday, October 8.
He said governments must develop a clear scale of preference when allocating public funds, particularly when resources are limited.
According to him, infrastructure such as roads can have a direct impact on economic activity by reducing travel times, facilitating the movement of goods and creating opportunities for businesses.
He cited some abandoned road projects and bypasses initiated under the Akufo-Addo administration as an example of projects he believes should have been completed rather than left unfinished.
His comments come amid a nationwide strike by pre-tertiary teachers over outstanding promotion arrears, salary-related concerns and other conditions of service.
The strike has disrupted teaching and learning in public basic and second-cycle schools, with teacher unions maintaining that they require concrete action from government before returning to the classroom.