Ghanaian actor turned politician, John Setor Dumelo, has lamented that it is a shame that the NPP MPs, voted against the suspension of tertiary fees, considering the abnormal times in which the country finds itself.
This is at the back of the Parliament deciding to reject the motion moved by Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga seeking government to absorb the fees for tertiary students for the 2021 academic year.
The Minority group had thrown their weight behind the motion while the Majority group argued that the decision would be needless as the government, had already provided enough support and interventions in the area of education in the wake of the pandemic.
John Dumelo made this assertion on his Twitter page and went on to note that due to the pandemic, COVID-19, several people are going through hard times, especially, with regards to finances and this has made it difficult for them to pay the fees of their wards. He further lamented that the students who are not able to fulfill their financial obligation of paying their fees would be forced to defer their courses.
“It’s a shame NPP MPs voted against the suspension of the tertiary fees. Covid has affected many businesses negatively, hence, the inability for families to afford fees for their wards. Students risk deferring this semester”.
This tweet has raised a lot of debate amongst his fans and some social media users. Some tweeps argued that the financial burden on the government is too much putting into consideration the free SHS initiative and further suggested that the only way to make the suspension of tertiary fees work is when the fees are rather slashed instead of not paying any amount at all. Others argued that the ex-Gracia that these MPs will receive should be enough to cater for the problem but that will not happen since the MPs only think of enriching their pockets. Some reactions from John Dumelo’s post read:
Meanwhile, it can be recalled that earlier this month, John Dumelo supported a Level 200 University of Ghana medical school student with a laptop following an appeal on Twitter.
The appeal for John Yao Avu was launched by a Twitter user, McJordan Dagadjor, who said the laptop will help Avu with his academic work.
Even though McJordan asked for a Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo laptop, Dumelo presented him with an HP laptop at Korle Bu.
It is not the first time Dumelo is supporting tertiary students with laptops. In October 2020, he reportedly presented 4,000 laptops to students in his constituency – Ayawaso West Wuogon.
Dumelo noted that the gesture was made to help and assist students to access online learning in this COVID-19 era. He also stated that he is a believer in quality education and will rest at nothing to make sure that people who require it get it.
