Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee in Parliament, Dr. Clement Apaak, has criticized Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), over a campaign advertisement that claimed more than five million beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
Dr. Apaak, who also serves as a spokesperson for the John Mahama Campaign on education, in a Facebook post referred to the advertisement as misleading and called for its removal, urging the Vice-President to apologize to the public.
According to him, data from Fact-Check Ghana, a project by the Media Foundation for West Africa, reveals that about 3.1 million students have benefited from the Free SHS program, far below the figure stated in the campaign ad.
Dr. Apaak further argued that if data from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) was considered, the actual number would be even lower, as not all students who enroll in the program go on to complete their studies by registering for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The lawmaker, representing the Builsa Constituency, has called on Dr. Bawumia to retract the advertisement, labeling it as deceptive.
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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 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
