A Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr. Clement Clement Apaak, has asked Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to render an apology and withdraw his campaign ad, claiming that over 5 million students have benefitted from the free senior high school policy.
The Builsa South MP said the presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been caught in a lie because a fact check conducted by FactCheckGhana has revealed that the total number of beneficiaries of the free SHS policy from 2017 till date is 3,135,754.
According to him, the blatant lie peddled by the NPP’s candidate must be condemned.
In a statement, Dr. Apaak indicated that if FactCheckGhana had issued statistics provided by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) beginning in 2020, when the first batch of beneficiaries registered to write the WASSCE, the number would be less than 2.5 million since not all students who enrolled go on to complete.
He said, ‘’Ghanaians deserve a leader with integrity, not a leader who is averse to the truth. Pull your deceitful advert and apologise to Ghanaians, DMB’’.
DMB must immediately pull his fraudulent advert, claiming that over 5 million students have benefited from FSHS from 2017-2024. How can the number of FSHS beneficiaries be more than the number enrolled? Such blatant lies must be roundly condemned. DMB must apologise for lying to Ghanaians.
As is clear from work done by Fact-Check Ghana, and captured in the table attached, less than 5 million students have benefited from the programme so far. Using enrollment figures reported by the government through the Ministry of Finance, Fact-Check Ghana has established that the total number of students enrolled from 2017-2024 is 3,135,754, way less than the concocted 5,000,000.
In fact, if Fact-Check were to use WASSCE entry statistics reported by WAEC beginning in 2020, when the first batch of FSHS students registered to write WASSCE, the number of beneficiaries would be less than than 2.5 million. This is because not all students who enrol go on to complete by registering and writing WASSCE.
Ghanaians deserve a leader with integrity, not a leader who is averse to the truth. Pull your deceitful advert and apologise to Ghanaians, DMB.
Dr. Clement Abas Apaak
MP, Builsa South, Deputy Ranking Member on Education Committee of Parliament and NDC2024 Spokesperson on Education
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
