The Progressive People's Party (PPP) have cited the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP,) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the NPP as a whole for ‘stealing’ from the PPP’s Free Compulsory & Continuous education policy.

In a strongly worded statement signed by the PPP’s Director of Communications, the party relayed that it was at its wits end when it heard Nana Addo on an Accra based station, JOY FM, stating categorically that an NPP administration would provide Free, Continuous and Compulsory Education from the basic level to Senior High School, and wondered “what happened to what has now become the education mantra of the NPP flag bearer- Free Education at the Senior High School level.”

Against this backdrop, the statement issued by Richmond Keelson, wondered whether the shift in position on the issue is not a demonstration of the wavering stance of the NPP and Akufo-Addo, and the fact that the NPP slogan of Free Education at the SHS level is not already back-firing.

According to the PPP, the latest position of Akufo-Addo on educations gives him up as an inconsistent leader with no originality of ideas...“He will therefore plagiarise the works and ideas of others in the hope that by their so-called sheer size in numbers, they can outmuscle the PPP- the originator of the concept of Free Compulsory Universal & Continuous education from Kindergarten to Senior High School with their usual loud verbal bouts.” The statement firmly accused Nana Akufo-Addo of abandoning his original mantra “and is now trying to illegitimately claim legitimacy over the PPP’s concept.”

It continued that unlike Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP, the standard bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP,) Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, and the party he leads position has always stood that there should be Free Compulsory Universal & Continuous education in the country.

“In that light, the NPP’s concept of Free Education at the SHS has become a slap in the face of the majority of Ghanaian teenagers who cannot access Senior High School education, because of the obvious rot in the country’s basic education. We suspect the NPP has observed the effect of their mantra, hence the shift to the latest stance of Akufo-Addo on the subject.” For the PPP, the obvious plagiarism of its ideas is a silence admission of the greatness of the party and its flag bearer.

The party opined that truth will always triumph over fake and cosmetics, and further pointed out that history will surely vindicate Papa Kwesi Nduom as the originator of many innovations in Ghana’s state policy, one of which is the policy of Free Compulsory Universal & Continuous education from Kindergarten to Senior High School.

“Papa Kwesi Nduom has been very consistent with his ideas on education which he stated even before the 2008 elections. The same cannot be said of Nana Akufo-Addo,” the statement said stressing that prior to the 2008 elections and, indeed, at the IEA presidential debate held that same year, Nana Akufo-Addo made it clear that his priority for free education would be at the tertiary level.

The PPP painted a gloomy picture of the attributes of the NPP flag bearer wondering what he had to offer after stating a different position from his party’s much hyped transformational manifesto.

The statement further questioned the moral authority the NPP had to question and accuse the NDC of stealing their “You Matter, People Matter” manifesto them, as well replacing their Northern Development Authority (NDA) with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) when they themselves are fresh culprits in plagiarism.