The Executive Director for Alliance for Social Equity And Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, has called on government to ensure it reviews the flagship programmes as the Finance Minister prepares to address the economic challenges facing the country on Thursday, March 24, 2022.

Mr. Mensah Thompson, indicated that the programmes, especially Free SHS, will need to be reviewed with new quality measures inputted to make it effective. He indicated that the effectiveness of these flagship programmes have still not been measured and something must be done about it.

Mensah Thompson argued that one of the issues resulting in the current economic situation, mainly has been government’s flagship programmes, which stakeholders had said right from its inception that they were not sustainable. He stated that he struggles to understand why Free SHS, which is a key flagship programme has not been qualified as a scholarship scheme based on competencies.

“A child gets aggregate 60 and then he gets admission to go Senior High School with that grade and the state will pay for it, just as any scholarship scheme which is based on competencies. I don’t understand because there are no limits, no cut off points, anybody just gets into the Senior High Schools.”
Mensah Thompson

NABCo programme just “red herrings”

According to the ASEPA Executive Director, other programmes like NABCO are just “red herrings” that don’t contribute anything to the economy. He disclosed that there are other sustainable approaches government could adopt since NABCo has become a burden and a liability. “We have not been able to measure how much in terms of productivity these people have given out.”

“It’s just like we wanted to put some people at some places, for them to be somewhere and pay them their allowance just because there are no jobs in the system. We cannot continue to manage the economy this way. The burden and the wages bill on the system is huge.”
Mensah Thompson

Mensah Thompson suggested the removal of NABCo and the Planting for the Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative from the flagship programmes introduced by government. He described the PFJ as one of the most disappointing flagship programmes. “Today if you look at the prices of maize and other food products on the market, then you ask yourself what happened to the millions that we sunk into the programme?”

According to Mensah Thompson, this may not be the time to play blame games but rather an important period to acknowledge what has brought the nation into its current state. He urged stakeholders to consider the decisions that resulted the nation in its current situation and the things that were proposed from the beginning which government failed to heed to, when finding solutions. “And we hope that the posture will change this time around as we all decide to ‘roll up our sleeves’ and help the economy back on track.”