The Director of Communications for Bawumia’s Campaign, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, on Tuesday, April 9, criticized former President John Dramani Mahama for his comments regarding the educational sector, specifically targeting the “one student, one tablet” initiative under the Ghana Smart Schools Project.
Mr. Aboagye stressed the remarkable achievements of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in recent years, asserting their unprecedented accomplishments compared to previous administrations.
Highlighting a notable contradiction, Aboagye pointed out that despite the National Democratic Congress (NDC) dismissing the announcement as unattainable, the distribution of tablets has commenced.
Expressing dismay, Aboagye criticized Mahama for his apparent resentment towards the policy and its beneficiaries.
“The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party announced that we, the New Patriotic Party, were going to distribute tablets to students of senior high schools in this country. The NDC in their usual impossibility character and posture came out to radicalise this announcement, hoping it will never come to reality, ” Aboagye said.
“But on the heels of our hard-working Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the policy was launched, and distribution, as we speak, has started. Isn’t it unfortunate that the former president and the NDC, within the full-blown hypocritical parades, came to display their bitterness towards a policy and especially its beneficiaries who are all Ghanaians of this country?,” he added.
Former President John Mahama accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of engaging in vote-buying tactics during his address at a student forum held at Wisconsin University in Accra. Mahama alleged that the ‘One Student, One Tablet’ initiative was being exploited by the NPP to sway votes in their favor.
“You bring a new curriculum, the children have no textbooks in basic schools for the last four years and you think that giving pre-tertiary students tablets is more important. Of course, everybody knows the political expediency,” Mahama said.
“The pre-tertiary students are going to register in May because some of them are going to be 18 and above. Some are 18 already and they are going to be the ones voting. So this is a gift to entice them to vote for the current government. It’s a bribe for them to vote for this government but I mean the students do not exist in isolation. They live in households and families,” Mr Mahama added.
During the launch of the Smart School Project, President Akufo-Addo announced the distribution of 1.3 million tablets to students, emphasizing the initiative’s focus on enhancing research, teaching, and learning. The President highlighted the tablets’ digital content designed to support educational activities.
“To distribute 1.3 million educational tablets to students in SHSs. That is one student, and one tablet under the Ghana Smart Schools Project. The tablets are fitted with digital content to aid research, teaching, and learning,” President Akufo-Addo said.