Former National Security Advisor to the late President John Evans Atta Mills, Brigadier General (Rtd) Joseph Nunoo Mensah, has voiced strong disapproval of the current implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, describing it as “nonsensical” and in need of immediate reform.
At a press conference on Friday, July 12, 2024, organized by Nana Kwame Bediako, the New Force leader running as an independent candidate in the 2024 elections, General Nunoo Mensah asserted that the Free SHS policy was originally intended to assist underprivileged families unable to afford secondary education.
He criticized the policy’s application to wealthy families, including President Akufo-Addo’s grandchildren, arguing that it deviates from the policy’s original objective.
“The system we had was that the policy should absolve the fee of the ordinary people, fishermen, poor people. How could I have become a CDS today, a fisherman’s son, if you don’t get anybody to push you?
“The whole idea was to help the children of poor people and it wasn’t meant for the children of rich people. How can President Akufo-Addo’s grandson or granddaughter get free education? It is rubbish and nonsensical. It is for people at Teshie, Nungua,” he said.
General Nunoo Mensah criticized the current administration’s approach, asserting that the policy should not benefit those who can afford to pay for education.
“People like Nunoo Mensah, my mother was selling plantain yet I became Chief of Defence Staff. There was no way she could have paid my fees. So, the Free SHS is not for ministers who are driving land cruisers, not for the president. It doesn’t make sense, it is stupid, so let us make policies that make sense,” he added.