HOW MUCH MONEY FROM THE OIL REVENUE HAS GONE INTO EDUCATION -NPP ASKS

President John Dramani Mahama has been challenged to order the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor to make public the amount of money from the oil revenue which have been spent on education.

This challenge was thrown to the President by a member of the NPP’s communication team, Mr Asamoah Gyamfi, when he made a guest appearance on e.tv Ghana’s Breakfast TV.

The issue of oil revenue and education came up for discussion when host, Bismark Brown paved way for a critical scrutiny of the NDC’s manifesto which was launched yesterday in Volta Regional capital of Ho.

The flagbearer of the ruling NDC, President John Mahama, stated yesterday that the issue of free education should not be “a matter of partisan political debate” and that “if there are additional resources, where is it best to spend those resources. That is what we should be debating.”

The President made this remarks in response to the free Senior High School education being touted by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

However, Mr Asamoah Gyamfi said his party was of the conviction that the free SHS was achievable stemming from the revenue being generated from the oil find.

He noted that the oil revenue management bill says that the oil should be spent in four areas; education, health, agriculture and infrastructure.

Mr Asamoah Boateng went on to challenge the President saying, “I challenge President Mahama to let the Minister of Finance outline how much money from the oil revenue has been spent on education.”

“What single education building will they say we took this money from the oil money and built it. They should tell us. Because they have decided to put that money in the consolidated fund so they can spend it any how anywhere they want it. It is even an affront to the laws of this country,” he added.

Mr Asamoah Gyamfi went on to stress that, “The only way every single Ghanaian in this country can benefit from the oil find is to put it in education.”

Other issues which came up for discussion was the NDC’s promise to affiliate Polytechnic institutions to universities in order for them to be Degree awarding institutions, a policy which did not go down well with the NPP communications team member.

In his opinion, the NDC “are confused and are juggling things together too that polytechnics should be what?”

Mr Asamoah Boateng stated that what needed to be done was for government to make a bold decisive government policy “that says if you hold an HND it is equivalent to a BSc.”

“Polytechnics do not need to be converted into universities. What polytechnics need to do is to be allowed to offer Bachelors Degree in Technology. We do not need to affiliate. Polytechnics are practical driven institutions and universities are more academic. But we need the two. What has happened in this country is that there is too much emphasis on the academics and so the one who needs to interpret the academics, the principles of engineering into deliverance is missing,” he said in rage.

“That is why Nana Addo is saying that he will adopt the German policy on vocational and apprenticeship training and that is why Nana Addo went on a working visit to Germany to see how it is done there.”

Mr Asamoah Gyamfi called for a change in the educational policy with emphasis on technical apprenticeship training.

“That is what we need. It is only when that is in place that our scientist and their thoughts can come into fruition. They should go and take the BTech policy initiated by Kufuor and implement it,” he added.