“Government Endangering Future Generations By Investing Oil Revenue Into Free SHS”, The Ndc’s Warped Analogy.

ln July 2007, Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy discovered oil in commercial quantities in the western region of Ghana. They named the area “Jubilee Field”. It was President Kufuor’s tenure which actually came with this blessing of oil discovery in commercial quantities, at a time when the NDC, very typical of them, asserted that it wasn’t crude oil but palm oil. Their pessimism has always known no bounds. I am waiting for the day they will for once, be optimistic about the prospects and progress of this country.

Ghana started producing oil in commercial quantities after the oil launch in December 2010, yet we cannot point to one clear thing which has been established as a result of Ghana’s oil production during the NDC’s tenure. So what is wrong, if the NPP is using oil revenue to fund free SHS, which every Ghanaian, irrespective of class and location stands a chance of directly or indirectly benefitting from? We were all in this country, when world crude oil prices hit its lowest of $27.67 per barrel in 2016, yet Ghana under the NDC wickedly refused to reduce fuel prices for consumers not even by just a cent! How can a party be this mean?

The Minority in parliament should tell us, just one significant thing, that they used the oil revenues for during their uninformed tenure! Their long held position, that it is wrong for government to commit oil revenue into financing free SHS and their recent gaffe which sort to reemphasize their weak position that, government is endangering the lives of future generations by investing oil revenues into free SHS is nothing but a frivolous and jaundiced claim that should be treated with the outmost contempt it deserves.

No country can develop without education. And for this, government’s focus has also been extended to vocational and technical training and education in Ghana. Science, Technology and Mathematics Education has also seen strategic facelifts. Development is very broad; it is not linear! It captures two main perspectives, thus economic development and political development. In the past, development was about the capacity of a national economy to generate and sustain on annual increase in its gross domestic product (GDP). The is basically the definition of economic growth. We probably want a more wholistic definition of development. Dudley Seers (1969) suggested, that development is when a country experiences a reduction or elimination of poverty, inequality and unemployment.Political development on the other hand comes with democracy, the rule of law, majoritarian rule, respect for minority rights, the independence and functioning of institutions among others. Common sense alone is not enough to achieve these, but education, hence the need for every well-meaning citizen to support free SHS! The Akufo-Addo led government, being aware of the fact, that the future of the country heavily lye on today’s youth, chose to invest into the education of its citizens.

Of course, the President could have chosen to frivolously brand buses or airlifted the oil revenue to Brazil or used it to chew “chinchinga”, but chose to invest it judiciously and smartly into the lives of Ghanaian youth, He deserves commendation and not condemnation!

The NDC never ceases to amaze me, its elements have been clueless, are clueless and are still being clueless about the priorities of this Nation. They should tell us, what is more important than investing into the education of the citizenry? Even Ghana, without investing into free SHS under the NDC, still had serious problems, in fact worse problems than we have today. What are they talking about? They should cut us some slack. The NDC is not a credible alternative and never should we give them any scintilla of opportunity to lead this country again. Enough is enough and never again!