Mahama's u-turn on allowances an election gimmick - Bawumia

The recent U-turn by President John Dramani Mahama on the restoration of Nurses and Teacher trainee allowances is a pure political gimmick that must be dismissed by Ghanaians, running mate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated.

President Mahama recently stated that New trainee nurses who are yet to be put on the students' loan scheme would also be put on the cancelled nurses' allowance scheme.

According to him, the technical committee which advised the government on the allowance scheme has suggested the placement of the trainees on allowance instead of a loan scheme.

“The committee recommended that since we are yet to amend the law to put our nursing and midwifery students on the students loan scheme, we should also put them on the allowance,” Mr. Mahama announced.

The allowances were withdrawn a few years back after government complained they limited intake by nursing training institutions.

It was further argued that it was unfair for nursing and teacher trainees to receive allowances when other tertiary students didn’t enjoy same.

Since the withdrawal, the government has been praising itself for taking a prudent decision which resulted in an exponential growth in enrollment figures at nursing and teacher training schools across the country, thereby expanding access to nursing and teacher training.

President Mahama famously tweeted that “on the matter of trainee teacher allowances, better to lose on principle than win using falsehood. We’ll not reverse the decision.”

Outlining policies in the NPP manifesto at the Trade Fair site in Accra Sunday, Dr. Bawumia reiterated that the NPP under an Akufo-Addo government will fully restore all nurses and teacher trainee allowances.

He called on Ghanaians not believe the recent statements by President Mahama on the allowances stating that the President will say anything to win votes in the upcoming elections.

"Nana Akufo-Addo has given his commitment to restore teacher and nursing training allowances fully...Mahama’s U-turn on allowances is a purely election year gimmick and must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves…at this stage President Mahama will say anything to get re-elected,” Dr. Bawumia said.