The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has strongly criticized the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, following his comments on the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) results.

During his country tour, Mr. Mahama discredited the examination results, pointing to malpractices and students conniving with teachers to cheat.

In response to the former president, the NPP Deputy Youth Organizer, Sandra Sarkodee-Addo, criticized Mr. Mahama for failing to appreciate the achievements of the candidates.

She urged the former president, “To credit the Ghanaian youth with some considerable amount of intelligence when given the platform to speak. He is at least a former president and a considered statesman, and must live with respect to his office. In 2024, John Mahama must be a changed man, devoid of antics in attempt to trick Ghanaians into believing he has anything new to offer the country.”

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in a Facebook post, also responded to the issue and offered words of encouragement to students, particularly the 2023 WASSCE candidates, urging them not to let anyone diminish their achievements.

In his post, Dr. Bawumia emphasized that not everyone comprehends the challenges faced by intelligent students, praising their accomplishments as a result of hard work.

Read the statement by the NPP’s Deputy Youth Organizer below

2024: JOHN MAHAMA MUST LEARN TO APPRECIATE THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE GHANAIAN YOUTH.

Former President John Dramani Mahama has over time relegated his reputation to the background and thrown his integrity to the dogs. His recent comments on national affairs have been more insulting to the intelligence of Ghanaians and, more specifically, the youth of this country like never seen before. He has now made the youth of this country the sad recipients of his constant show of myopic and small-minded tendencies, as though they caused his disgraceful failure as President. It is an established fact that Mahama as President failed woefully because he was incompetent, and lacked foresight and belief in the potential our country possesses for growth and development.

In his recent visit to Asafo in the Agona East Constituency of the Central Region, he openly rubbished the success of Senior High School students who have passed their WASSCE with excellence. He, John Dramani Mahama argued that the students did not merit the successes chalked in the WASSCE and that their intelligence was not as the exam results portrayed. Such comments can only come from a person who does not believe in nurturing the future of our nation. A former president and statesman for that matter, should not be demeaning in his utterances as John Mahama has recently been.

It would be recalled that this same John Mahama in 2014 urged the media to “make noise” on the success of Senior High School students who sat for the West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination. He claimed at the time that the results reflected the level of intelligence of the students and that was as a result of the effective educational structures laid by his Government. Fast forward in 2023, this same John Mahama is strongly against the media “making noise” about the success of students who sat for the WASSCE. There is no doubt that Mr. Mahama has no plans for the future of this country.

Concerning his claim that in most schools across Ghana, Teachers connived with the Students to cheat in the WASSCE, I dare the former President to mention only one school where such an unfortunate event happened. He who alleges must prove beyond street talk that what he alleges is nothing but the truth. A former president as he is must not make such unfounded comments that insult the intelligence of Ghanaian students, the hard work of Teachers, integrity of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) which is in charge of the exam, the FSHS policy implemented by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government and the goodwill of the Ghanaian youth.

Also, John Mahama’s shoddy attempt to rile up Ghanaians against the FSHS policy and his desperation to be president again should not be the grounds to discredit our entire school system to the outside world, reducing our certificates to nothing before our peers elsewhere in other countries. Ghanaian students and youth in general have always been intelligent and shall continue to be so.

The youth of Ghana remains the future of this nation. To insult our intelligence and that of the intelligence of our Senior High School students is a fight against the future of this nation and shall therefore not be tolerated. The youth of this country know how much John Mahama hates the idea of the Free Senior High School policy, and by extension anything good that comes out of it. Nonetheless, we shall not sit aloof to allow his hatred for the FSHS policy to cause him to insult the intelligence of students of this policy as much as Teachers teaching these students to become future leaders.

John Mahama must be reminded that he has up until now not been able to give Ghanaians a single policy initiative he intends to execute to support the youth of this country. For education and the SHS in particular, we know, without any iota of doubt, how he intends to cancel the Free Senior High School policy without thinking twice about it. Therefore, it is very important to inform him that well-meaning Ghanaians won’t give him such mandate to do so especially when we know that he has no vision for this country.

However, this might be, I particularly urge Mr John Mahama to credit the Ghanaian youth with some considerable amount of intelligence when given the platform to speak. He is at least a former president and a considered statesman and must live with respect to his office. In 2024, John Mahama must be a changed man, devoid of antics in an attempt to trick Ghanaians into believing he has anything new to offer the country.

Sandra Sarkodee-Adoo
Deputy National Youth Organizer
New Patriotic Party (NPP)