The Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) in their 2020 Manifesto document promised to build 16 model Senior High Schools (SHSs), one in each region of the country, within four years if given the nod to be in power for the second term.
This promise was succinctly captured on page 154 of the manifesto as follows:
“Over the next four years, we will through the Zongo Development Fund, in collaboration with GETFUND, build 16 model Senior High Schools in Zongo communities across the 16 regions of the country”.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) had stated in their 2020 manifesto document that they would construct mortuaries in accordance with Islamic customs and practices and collaborate with the Ministry for Health to set up focal teams responsible for procedures that comply with Islamic customs in all state morgues.
But Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in October 2020 said what the NPP had in stock for Ghanaians was far better than what the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had promised.
“We are going to build a model senior high school in the Zongo community in every region, so we will start with 16 model SHSs so that our children will have an opportunity to attend those schools. That will be the start for next year. Our policy is not one Zongo, one mortuary, we are not thinking of mortuary. We are thinking of schools – we want to develop our Zongos with schools and not mortuary.”
He would later give further assurance in 2022 that the project would start in earnest.
Neither the Zongo Development Fund nor the Coordinating Secretariat of the Zongo Development Fund at the Office of the President would speak to the ‘Manifesto Check’ team about the status of the projects being undertaken by them including these model Senior High Schools.
However, documents available to the team suggest that not much has been done on the project.
For instance, the ‘Programme-Based Budget Estimates for 2023 for the Office of Government Machinery’ shows that none of the model schools had been built in 2021 and 2022. It shows further that the government targeted to build three of the schools in 2023.
However, GetFund, a collaborating agency which is required to allocate funds for the project did not allocate any funds for the project in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the only allocation of over 99 million cedis was made in 2024.
As it stands, it is unclear what the status of the project is, where the schools will be built, and when the project will be completed.