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General News of Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Source: radioxyzonline

Prez Mahama didn't promise free SHS - Jinapor

The President’s Spokesperson has accused main opposition NPP’s former General Secretary of twisting President John Mahama's 2008 comments on free education for propaganda purposes.

Nana Ohene Ntow exposed a tape on Wednesday which contains the voice of the then NDC running mate allegedly promising free education at the senior high level.

President John Mahama is heard in the tape saying an NDC government will eliminate all extra fees at the basic level while making Community Day SHS free for all.

He however indicated that boarding schools will only have their bills reduced so that parents can afford.

The NPP however says the tape exposes the NDC’s hypocrisy in fighting main opposition flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo's free SHS promise.

But Presidential Spokesperson Abu Jinapor told XYZ News the President’s voice has been twisted out of context.

“Even the tape they play clearly indicates that he did not promise. He said that we believe in free compulsory universal basic education and that we were going to take steps to take out all the costs to make it progressively free,” he said.

He said President John Dramani Mahama has been consistent and that the NPP is intentionally misrepresenting his position on the constitutional level.

‘At the [Community] day schools, they don’t pay boarding fees. All they pay are some little, little expenses and we’ve said that we want to take care of that.”

He said President John Mahama wants to increase the bursaries to ensure that the cost incurred by parents at the second cycle level is reduced drastically.