We don't know Free SHS ambassador - Ministry of Education

The Ministry of Education (MOH) has refuted allegations by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the government is using Free Senior High School (SHS) Ambassadors to canvass votes on SHS campuses, contrary to the rules of the Ghana Education Service (GES) against political activities on school campuses.

The NDC said in a statement on Thursday that it is “appalled and disgusted by the act of political desperation” on the part of the Akufo-Addo-led government demonstrated by a video circulating on social media, in which a person who identifies himself as an “Ambassador of Free SHS” is seen at a Senior High School (SHS) campaigning for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) relative to the upcoming 2020 elections.

In the said video, the gentleman, who is clad in a polo shirt with the inscription “Free SHS Ambassador” embossed on it, could be heard telling young SHS students to campaign to their colleagues and parents to vote for President Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2020 elections.

The NDC’s statement signed by Mr Sammy Gyamfi, National Communication Officer, said: “The deafening silence of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) on this matter and other similar acts of impunity comes as no surprise to us. We are not oblivious of the machinations to use various state institutions to give the underperforming Akufo-Addo government an undue incumbency advantage in the lead up to the 2020 general elections.”

Responding to the allegations, the Communication Director of the MoE, Mr Ekow Vincent Assafuah said in a release dated 31 October 2019 that it “wishes to state emphatically that the government has not appointed or mandated any person or persons as Free SHS Ambassadors to go round Senior High School campuses in the country to campaign for the government of President Akufo-Addo”.

The statement also announced that an investigation will be launched into the allegation “to ascertain the facts surrounding the video circulating on social media and other related issues”.