I once had cause to state during a conversation on governance among colleagues that the only way Ghanaians can benefit from the duopoly foisted on us by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is to change them every four years.
My contention is that by doing so, we will get more free things. Any quest for 12 years in office, if that argument is anything to go by, is thus wishful thinking.
The discussion was about the poor management of the Free Senior High School Policy. And the point was about the fact that if for nothing at all, it has provided access to secondary education for many Junior High School graduates who would otherwise have ended up elsewhere. Remember President Kufuor provided Free Maternal Care when we changed from the NDC? And the Free SHS was a major motivation to change John Mahama (JM)?
Thankfully, another election year is nigh and the freebies have started coming. Before then, there was unanimity among flagbearers of the aforementioned parties to abolish some existing taxes such as the e-levy, emissions tax and betting tax. There is also the pledge to reduce electricity tariffs- gestures that will no doubt bring us much-needed relief.
NDC’s No Fee Stress Policy (aka- No academic user fees for level 100 students)
Officials of the NDC have given indications that the 2024 manifesto will be launched on Saturday, August 24 in the Central Region- home region of the running mate to the flagbearer, Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang.
As a precursor to the main launch, the party chose International Youth Day, marked globally on August 12, to launch its Youth Manifesto. It was done in a festive fashion- the document was out doored in the morning and the flagbearer, John Mahama, opened himself up for questioning by the ordinary Ghanaian youth at the Bukom Boxing arena, featuring Bukom Banku, the boxer, and his arch rival, Ayitey Powers.
Both the youth manifesto launch and the public forum were well organized, thus were a delight to watch on TV. And when JM answered the question on the betting tax in pidgin English, I grinned. However, my journalistic mind could not help but ask questions on some things that seemed odd.
I could not help but notice that JM, as he asked the youth to call him, was very economical in his description of the details of the innovative ‘No Fee Stress’ policy when he addressed audience in the filled-to-capacity UPSA auditorium.
I looked forward to JM touting it to the high heavens, but alas! This is all he said about this great news, “We will also launch the ‘No Fee Stress Initiative,’ providing fee-paying support to eligible students through the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF).” So, I asked myself, how different is this from the already existing SLTF?
Actually, this terse statement was subsumed under a broad topic of “Challenges in Secondary and Tertiary Education” instead of a stand-alone. Well, that was my expectation, seeing as it is great news in my considered opinion.
Especially so when the young man who read the content of the Youth Manifesto, as regards this initiative, was so enthusiastic with the announcement- “Say it after me, No Fee Stress” he teased.
Festus Mwingsong Akyuuro proceeded to read from Page 6 of the Youth Manifesto titled “The Pledge: The John Mahama 2024 Pledge to Young People,” as follows, “We will implement a no-fees stress programme to alleviate the financial burden on parents and students in financing tertiary education. We will implement a ‘No Academic Fees’ policy at the university for level 100 students.” Note that there was no specification of public or private– “at the university for level 100 students.”
He added, “Redeploy the Student Loan Trust Fund Plus (SLTF Plus) to give continuing students the option to utilise students’ loans to finance directly their university fees to guarantee the peace of mind of the student to study.”
This my journalistic mind…
After reading details of the initiative, as captured in the Manifesto, I managed to convince myself that JM did not bother to restate the details because it would have been superfluous. But there is this little voice that kept whispering that the policy is not well thought-through.
Hence, the decision by JM not to elaborate on it was to prevent the possibility of a question being asked on it during the public forum later in the evening. Remember JM believes that Ghanaians have short memory?
True to my suspicion, during the townhall meeting, no question was asked on the ‘No Fee Stress Initiative’ and we all went to sleep. Day broke and the National Youth Organiser of the NDC, George Opare Addo was subjected to questioning on details of the policy by hosts of the morning show on Joy FM.
In answering the question on which universities will implement the programme, he said, “Public Universities.” Asked whether that includes Technical Universities, his answer was NO. How? Was my reaction. And if I was the one interviewing, I would have followed up with “can we have the list of the implementing universities?” Well, he got away with it.
Then on Key Points on Saturday 17th August, the Chairman of the NDC’s Manifesto Planning Committee, Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor said the Technical Universities are covered by the policy because as their name implies, they are universities. He restated the target of the fee-free dispensation as first years. Second, third and fourth year students will decide whether they want to subscribe to the students’ loan facility or not.
JM to the rescue?
…Then analysts started asking questions about sources of funding and punching holes into the feasibility of the policy. JM responded but ended up confirming my suspicion.
Addressing a rally in Juapong on Tuesday, August 13, he said “we have costed it and we approximate that for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions, it should cost anywhere between 270 to about 290 million Ghana Cedis.”
Tell me, which cost accountant will cost a project or policy and leave a GHC20million range? An indication of what my Akan friends call “Bɔsrɛmuka” – said in the spur of the moment.
Here is why, “Let me tell you something, the president, a few years ago, his travel budget in nine months amounted to 69 million Cedis, they held one cabinet retreat at the presidency, it cost almost 5 million cedis. There is so much waste in the system and even if you look at the Office of the President budget alone, you will be able to cut to raise enough money to pay these academic facility user fees for all level hundred students. Do you know the budget for the Office of the President? it is 2 billion Cedis every year. It is even now that IMF has come and they have cut it down. It used to be 3 point something billion cedis every year.”
My point is, if this policy has been well thought-through, the exact cost would have been identified using an estimated number of first year students- say that of 2023-2024 academic year plus a certain percentage increase based on the number of registered candidates in the ongoing West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Having done that, a good policy brief will then outline the possible sources of funding with justification for why these will do the magic. Instead, the answers we got were based on the cost of presidential travels and cabinet retreat “a few years ago.”
The necessity of the no academic user fee for level 100 students
As one who has seen three students through Level 100 in universities, I can vouch for the thoughtfulness of this policy. That is because, I have no doubt that it will reduce the financial burden for parents of level 100 students by about 50%.
And JM did not fail to mention this, “we do not want, especially in the first year when the students are coming in for the first time for them to go through what we call fee stress, that is why we call it a “no fee stress policy’ and so we are saying that we can absorb the academic user fee.” Very reassuring, isn’t it?
However, seeing as this policy does not seem well thought-through my mind is not at rest. Some questions keep coming up. One of these has to do with the fact that the public universities rely on the application and academic user fees paid by first year students to manage their affairs in the face of dwindling government subvention.
A senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof Ransford Gyampo confirmed this. He said on the Key Points edition aforementioned that “currently, the subvention the universities receive caters for just salary. Cost of electricity, water and other administrative expenses are all derived from fees paid by especially, level 100 students.” The reason is simple, cash and carry- you pay the fees before being admitted.
The big question therefore is, at which point will the government pay the universities on behalf of these students when this policy becomes operational? Just before they report on campus or after they have settled in?
JM offered some clarification to the effect that payment will be done through the Students Loan Trust Fund. Unfortunately, information I have gathered is that the SLTF is so fund-starved that currently, some applicants receive the loans during their second year or fourth year, some never.
It is thus important for the NDC to go back to the brainstorming session and seal all the holes punched into the policy proposal. My proposal is that to avoid any frustration of first year students by university authorities at the beginning of the academic year, if the NDC wins the December 7 presidential election, every effort should be made to put a finger on the exact cost and that amount should be disbursed to the universities before the students arrive on campus. If this is not done, the chaos that will be experienced on the various campuses will be gargantuan.
It’s time to go
The disease called ‘lackfundaisis’ (Lack of funds) is currently plaguing government policies such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, National Ambulance Authority, School Feeding Programme, Free Senior High School, Nurses and Teacher trainee allowance, Buffer Stock suppliers and our indebtedness to WAEC to mention a few.
That is why I fear that the same fate will befall the ‘No fees Stress’ policy. But we cannot continue like this. Hence, the need for a leader who will take us through a paradigm shift that would ensure that an antidote is found for this malaise.
Unfortunately, as I have said here before, we find ourselves between the rock and a hard place in the NPP and the NDC. And without being a prophet or a renowned pollster, I can state that either DMB (Dr Mahamudu Bawumia) or JM will win the December 7 election. Nonetheless, me and my household, we have decided to gamble with our votes. A hint of our choice will be dropped at the opportune time.
Having said that, let me state that this policy must be implemented no matter who wins the election. That’s because of the beneficial effect of such a policy to the youth and the nation at large.
And here, I agree with JM that there has been and there continues to be a lot of waste in the system that if salvaged, can be channeled towards supporting this policy even as we identify a dedicated source of funding. It is possible!!!
Once we find the money, my proposal is this- why not cost how much a student will need for a four-year degree programme, say GHC40,000 (GHC10,000 per year) and give a loan package payable after one has secured a job upon graduation? This way, we will kill two birds with one stone – the free element is eliminated and stress associated with Level 100 is removed.
I dare say that with all the natural resources at our disposal- Gold, bauxite, diamond, clay, timber… and the millions of dollars we derive from exporting same, not to mention the fact that the Ghana Revenue Authority annually exceeds its targets by taxing our little incomes, what remains is a leader who will utilize the proceeds to benefit the youth, including my nieces and nephews in Osu, Bukom, Chorkor and Bortianor.
If this is done, that they will stop thinking of leaving the shores of Ghana at the least opportunity- ‘Jakpa.’
Au revoir – That’s goodbye in French.
Let God Lead. Follow Him directly, not through any human.
The writer is the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Columnist of the Year- 2022. He is the author of two books whose contents share knowledge on how anyone desirous of writing like him can do so. Eric can be reached via email [email protected]
