Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has questioned why the government should be the one to take the full cost of the free senior high school programme.
He suggested that Ghana should emulate the way and manner free SHS is done in Europe and in the United States where the programme is limited to only day students.
Ghana’s free SHS was introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration in 2027. So far GHS 9.9billion haS been spent on the programme.
Asked how the the incoming Mahama government is going to generate revenue to fund programmes like the free SHS when it is going to remove some taxes as promised, he said on TV3 Friday, December 13 “Those in the diaspora, please you need to come into this discussion. Secondary education is free in Europe, and secondary education is free in the US but they are day schools.
“The best government is doing, for instance in the US, is to put in yellow buses which you have to stop to give priority to the buses to take the kids to school.
“So rich developed countries started the boarding school system, and today, when you go to the boarding school college, it is the elite, you have to pay a lot and so it is only rich people who have to take their kids to those schools and talented kids who get scholarships. Why don’t we follow their examples? What makes us think that we should support free SHS unfettered? Unfettered in the sense that the government tales every cost. The warning came in 2028 early in the administration when we used GHS2.2 billion of bond to support free.”
Also commenting on the same show, Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Mr Joe Jackson wondered where the incoming Mahama administration will generate revenue from for development if he removes all the taxes he promised to abolish.
In the view of Mr Jackson, there are going to be huge challenges in managing the economy, especially in relation to its manifesto pledge to remove some taxes including the e-levy.
It is recalled that ahead of the 2024 general elections, the candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama promised Ghanaians to scrap some nuisance taxes in his first 100 days in office.
The taxes include E-levy, COVID levy, 10% levy on betting, emissions levy, and import duty on vehicles and equipment imported into the country for industrial and agricultural purposes.
Speaking on TV3 Friday, December 13, Mr Joe Jackson said “Let us not be mistaking, in 2025, we have to look at how are we performing in terms of revenue because some of the items are going to go out.
“There has been a manifesto commitment to take out the e-levy, betting tax, the covid levy. ”
“So a lot of issues are going to come out and I have no doubt in my mind that the challenge is going to be huge.”
He added “you say you are going to remove tax A,B,C,D. But where is the money going to come from?”
Asked why anybody would want to be president in 2025 given the impending huge challenges, he said “Because somebody has to step up and rule, somebody has to step up and fix the country, somebody has to step up.”
The post Why should govt support free SHS unfettered? – Terkper makes case for a review first appeared on 3News.
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