The National Youth Organizer of the NDC, George Opare Addo, has conceded that the Mahama-led administration erred in its decision to cancel the teacher and nursing trainee allowances.
Mr Opare Addo disclosed on Joy FM that the government’s decision was unpopular and affected the party in the 2016 elections.
George explained that after upgrading the training colleges to universities, the government thought it wise to scrap the allowances.
“The NDC government was spending GH¢950 on teacher trainees. And we were looking at issues of equity since they were upgraded to tertiary institutions. So we wanted to migrate them unto the student loan trust fund.”
George added that “everybody has the right to change his mind, so there’s nothing wrong if former President Mahama believes the decision was unpopular.
“If he comes he will restore it because it was an unpopular decision and we apologise,” he noted.
Opare Addo’s concession is a departure from the party’s running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang who was the Education Minister at the time the allowance was abolished.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang defended that the government did not abolish the allowance but replaced it with the student loan.
Addressing tertiary students in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, Professor Opoku-Agyemang assured that a future NDC government will be transparent with the Ghanaian students.
“I will come to a sensitive subject which I think should be dead by now. We never cancelled the teacher trainees’ allowance. Cancelling means that you have something and I came to take it away from you”.
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“This is the last time I am going to talk about this because we never did that. You know very well that those who were on the loan scheme continued to enjoy it until they graduated. So we never took anything away from them,” she said.
“Today how much do you get and how much are they taking from you? Those in the training schools are crying over fees. We will be open to you. We will be honest with you. We want you to know what you are coming into. We will not lure you through the door and then begin to tell you stories,” she added.
