Education is expected to be one of the key determinants of the 2020 general elections, as it was in 2016. Two key campaign messages characterised the 2016 general elections. The first message was the promise of then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to provide Free Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), when given the mandate to govern. The second message was rejection of the Free SHS policy by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by John Dramani Mahama. So vehement was the then ruling government (NDC) against the Free SHS that it sponsored 35 advertisements on radio, newspapers, TV and billboards against the policy. The NDC and its followers capped their opposition against Free SHS with a public demonstration, during which they chanted “Free SHS is 419”.
In the end, the electorate opted for the promise of Free SHS and snubbed the opposition against the inclusive and equitable policy. As one church of Pentecost pastor puts it: “It is better to have a dream and not be able to achieve it, than not having a dream at all”. Since 2008 when education became a big election issue, many parents and guardians have been monitoring policymaking and implementation, if not for anything else, to judge education’s capacity to bridge the social and economic divide among children. Against all odds, the NPP government’s ability to implement Free SHS in 2017 is a feat that may continue to earn it election dividends in the future.
Running-mate debate
Many political analysts have questioned why the NDC’s candidate, John Dramani Mahama, delayed in announcing his running-mate till six months to the December 7, 2020 elections. The notion is that the NDC was searching for a candidate with academic and economic prowess to match the New Patriotic Party (NPP’s) running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Since he came on the political scene, Dr. Bawumia has become a thorn in the flesh of the NDC – both in government and in opposition. Looking at it from the economic and political perspective, it appears the appointment of Prof. Jane Nana Opoku-Agyemang fell below the expectation of many people. It remains to be seen whether Prof. Opoku Agyemang has what it takes to neutralise Dr. Bawumia’s unassailable economic and financial intellect. Even from the academic front, her announcement has drawn mixed reactions.
The geographical debate
One analyst has observed that in the past Vice-presidential candidates were usually selected with two, sometimes overlapping, considerations. One is geographical/ethnicity, religious and gender balance among others. The other is luring technocratic experts (e.g. economics, finance, engineers, academia etc.). Past appointments had focused on addressing the geographic/ethnic balance, perhaps, to satisfy the constitutional requirement and partly to garner votes from the candidate’s constituency.
Some choices had straddled the two – such as Rawlings’ choice of Atta-Mills and Kow Nkensin Arkaah. Some decisions, like the first time Bawumia was selected, raise questions as to whether it was for economic expertise or for ‘northern votes’. That aside, where does the selection of Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyeman fit? Is there a shift toward other aspects of balance beyond ethnicity? If yes, what are the implications for party ‘world banks’ and support bases like Volta and Northern Regions?
Reactions
The general euphoria that Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang is the first female to be appointed as running-mate was put to rest with statistics. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and Akua Donkor have already made history as the first women to contest elections as Presidential candidates. So far, parents and teachers have been the loudest critics of Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang – based on the much-maligned educational policies her government implemented under her supervision.
Her selection evoked memories of educational policies like the cancellation of teacher-trainee allowances; the reduction in admission of teacher-trainees; the freeze on automatic employment of teachers after school; the payment of three-month salaries after teachers worked for three years; the withdrawal of research and academic allowance for tertiary education teachers; failure to pay the feeding grants of special schools; and failure to pay the fees of day-students under their own ‘Progressively Free’ SHS alternative etc.
As was expected, the NPP released a statement cataloguing why it felt Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang is not only a bad candidate in the policy arena, but also why she hardly meets the expectations of many parents – especially women. The statement averred that while Professor Naana Opoku Agyemang is not new to Ghana politics, her performance as Minister of Education gives cause for worry. The NPP’s views of the Professor’s performance as a minister resonated with public reactions.
The NPP noted that the inhumane treatment meted out to Ghanaian teachers at the time was the brainchild of Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang. “Need we remind anyone that it was during the tenure of Naana Jane that training teachers’ allowances were scrapped. It was done without paying any heed to the many appeals to reconsider the decision. Indeed, it was one of the things she was proud to have done,” the statement said.
According to the statement, apart from cancelling their transportation allowances, Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang also introduced the practice of teachers being paid only three months back-pay after working for three years. “Naana Opoku-Agyemang has been a teacher herself, yet it was during her period that classroom teachers were denied common chalk to write on blackboards.”
NDC’s rebuttal
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) dealt itself a blow when it denied that Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang could not be blamed for cancelling the teacher-trainee allowance as Minister of Education. “The decision to replace the Teacher Trainee Allowance with a students’ loan was a Cabinet decision and not a ministerial decision,” the NDC said at a press conference.
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC’s communications officer said the teacher-trainee allowance was converted to student loans in order to abolish the quota system of admissions into colleges of education. The quota system was meant to increase enrolment and teaching opportunities for the youth, but with hindsight Mr. Gyamfi, Prof. Jane Naana Agyeman and ex-president Mahama should be candid and admit that the policy was a bad one. No amount of ‘double-speak’ can disguise a bad policy.
The explanation that Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang was not responsible for putting a hold on payment of salaries for newly-recruited teachers cannot be accepted. She was the face of the Ministry of Education, so Mr. Gyamfi’s conclusion that the Prof. should not be blamed for the policy cannot be wholly accepted. This disagreement on policymaking is the biggest indication that perhaps Prof. Nana Opoku Agyeman was not in charge of policy. In any case, the minister of any sector is always the reference point when a policy backfires, not the entire Cabinet. For instance, if anything goes wrong at the Ministry of Education, as of now Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh will take the largest amount of blame before the Cabinet.
Using the negative reaction to the Prof’s appointment as a springboard to announce an alternative policy appears to be a smart twist. Sammy Gyamfi outlined three policy options, for want of a better name: the first being that with Professor Naana as Vice President of the Republic, the “obnoxious Licencure Examination and nuisance National Service policy” of the Akufo-Addo government would be abolished.
Secondly, the government’s “unwillingness and inability to employ teachers would be abolished”. The third is that the automatic recruitment of teacher-trainee graduates would be restored.
Far from being new policies, they appear to be appeals by the NDC for a second chance to correct or review their old policies which backfired. To be honest, there is nothing innovative on offer for now. Time is running out for the NDC to bring innovative policy options to convince parents and guardians that the party has them at heart. Threats to review the Free SHS policy – which has taken a heavy load off the heads of parents – sends shivers down the spines of many Ghanaians. In my opinion, if the records on education are to be taken seriously, the pair of John Dramani Mahama and Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang is not marketable. Education is too serious an economic and development indicator to be toyed with. Education defines the future economic and human development of any country, and governments that toy with it should be shown the exit.
‘Montie Trio’
One lesson I have learnt from the unfolding saga is that whether in private or public life, people monitor our actions and inactions and will use them to judge us in future. That is the fact confronting Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang. Small wonder that the key role Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang played in the ‘Montie Trio’ saga has come to haunt her. During the election petition hearing in 2012, three overzealous supporters of the NDC threatened and insulted then Chief Justice Theodora Georgina Wood – the first female Chief Justice of Ghana. Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang not only failed to condemn the threat to another woman,bu also gladly signed the petition urging then-President John Dramani Mahama to use his power of pardon to set the three NDC supporters free after the Supreme Court jailed them for contempt. The president did so.
As a learned female professor, many Ghanaians had expected Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang to rise above partisanship and solidarise with Theodora Georgina Wood. She did not. Today, she is being paraded as a woman who should be accepted because she is a woman. Many Ghanaians are of the view that the policies her ministry implemented did little to help women with the education of their children. At worst, her stewardship at the Ministry of Education only added to the burden of parents and teachers.
(***The writer is a Development and Communications Management Specialist and a Social Justice Advocate. All views expressed in this article are my personal views and do not represent those of any organization(s). (Email: [email protected]. Mobile: 0202642504/ 0243327586/0264327586)
The post Amos Safo’s thoughts…Education, 2020 elections and a running-mate appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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