The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah has disclosed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed all 16 flagship programs of the government including the Free Senior High School and the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) should be reviewed.
Despite the numerous advantages of the free SHS policy, the already worsened economy is being stretched by the policy because the government has to allocate about GH¢7.5billion every year to the programme.
Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM said no program will be left out of the review when the government held a crunch cabinet meeting at Peduase Lodge to proffer solutions to the economic hardships in the country.
He said “All the 16 flagship programs are up to be looked at. The President has directed that the flagship programs should be protected and fully implemented to ensure that the impact is achieved.
“However, he wants it done within the constraints of item number 2 which is the fiscal framework we are working with. If based on the caps that we are working with we will have to rescope a particular flagship program, we will do it and see how much we can achieve.
“All the 16 are up for discussion, none is off-limit. Only that the President has laid down the red line that we will not compromise on the fiscal consolidation agenda because our real problem over the years has been a year-on-year deficit going out of hands,” he added.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the challenges facing the country are not peculiar to Ghana as many other nations across the globe are going through the same.
“Our nation, and indeed every country on the face of the planet, is going through challenges brought forth largely by COVID-19.
“Ghana is not the only country faced with extraordinary increases in global freight rates, stringent inflationary pressures, dramatically rising fuel prices, unprecedented volatility in stock markets, and tighter global financing conditions. These are global phenomena,” he said when he joined past and current students of St. Augustine’s College to mark the school’s 92nd Speech and Prize-giving Day on Saturday, March 19, 2022.
