Former Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah (Rtd), has criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration’s proposal to introduce free tuition for first-year tertiary students, describing it as an unnecessary expense.
Speaking at a stakeholder engagement at O’Reilly Senior High School on January 15, Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah argued that parents, not the government, should bear the financial burden of tertiary education.
“Why pay for them? What is the essence of tertiary education? What is the use? You don’t have to pay for it. Come on, it’s not necessary,” he stated. “If someone wants to go to tertiary education, the parents should afford it because you don’t need them anyway. I don’t need them. They finish, then they will be roaming about in Accra finding jobs. They can’t even produce solar energy to power lights for us. They can’t do anything, so don’t waste our money on them.”
Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah also revealed his intention to personally communicate his concerns to President John Dramani Mahama.
“I’m going to tell President John Dramani Mahama, it’s not necessary. But they won’t listen to me because they are politicians; I’m not,” he said.
In addition to criticising free tertiary tuition, he also took issue with the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, which he described as flawed. He suggested a more targeted approach, where parents who could afford to pay fees would do so, while scholarships would be offered to underprivileged students.
“It’s a wrong policy. They should have encouraged parents to pay. Those who cannot pay should have applied for scholarships,” he remarked, citing resource constraints and food shortages in schools as consequences of the universal approach.
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