National Communication Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has said that the NDC will maintain payment of the teachers’ trainee allowance when voted into power.
About four years ago, the flagbearer of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama strongly defended the withdrawal of the teacher trainee allowance stating that it will be better to win on principle than win using falsehood.
On September 7th 2016, John Dramani Mahama tweeted; “On the matter of trainee teacher allowances, better to lose on principle than win using falsehood. We’ll not reverse the decision. #UCC Forum”.
However, Sammy Gyamfi in a recent interview on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show with Kwame Afrifa Mensah has disclosed that the party is now willing to maintain the teachers’ training allowance as they have realized that it is what Ghanaians want.
“President Mahama will respect allowance maintenance. We have decided not to argue with the voter. We replaced it with student loans but if they want the allowance restored we will respect that”, he said.
He added that when the NDC comes into power, the issue of nurses and teachers unemployment will be a thing of the past.
Ex-president John Dramani Mahama in 2016 stated that he will not restore teacher trainee allowance even if it will cost him the 2016 presidential election. The ex-president lost the 2016 elections to his opponent, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, however, restored the teacher trainee allowances from September 12, 2017, alongside the official launch of the free senior high school (SHS) program.