Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has dismissed claims that a 40-million dollar loan facility by the World Bank to the education sector is for the continuation of the ‘Sanitary Pad’ programme to school going girls, started by the erstwhile Mahama government.
Speaking in an interview on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo", Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu exposed the falsehood being peddled by the Minority in Parliament saying the financial support by World Bank is to improve quality education in the country.
According to him, the $40 million is to facilitate the government's free SHS policy and ensure that the beneficiaries of the programme obtain quality materials to ease and resolve any challenges.
He further recounted that the facility includes provision of text books, exercise books and other vital education elements.
The issue of sanitary pad came to the floor of Parliament when the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa pointed out the hypocrisy of the Majority in Parliament who demonized and ridiculed the provision of sanitary pads for school going girls from deprived areas under a $156 million World-Bank financed Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) in 2014.
The wrongly-tagged ‘Sanitary Pad loan’ was a World Bank facility meant to improve service delivery and infrastructure under the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP). The NDC (when in government and later in opposition), claimed the programme has had the distinction of delivering 10,400 full Scholarships in which 60% of beneficiaries were females; the construction of 23 Community Senior High Schools, Facilities Improvement and Quality Upgrade in 125 SHSs, as well as Math, Science and ICT training for over 6,000 teachers, among others.
Indeed, according to the Honurable Okudzeto Ablakwah, “the SEIP has been hailed by the World Bank as one of the most successful projects it has helped fund in Africa for which same has been replicated in other countries. For this reason, the World Bank has decided to reward the current NPP Government with an additional funding of US$40 million.”
He therefore wondered how the Majority - then Minority in Parliament - could today, hail the same project that they were opposed to three years ago.
But Hon. Kyei Mensah Bonsu explained to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on "Kokrokoo" show that the World Bank was motivated to pump money into the project because the government paid attentive ears to the needs of the beneficiaries.
He noted that the project has become attractive to the World Bank specifically because the government has removed the provision of sanitary pad from it.
"We said whatever will help improve quality education is good but we don't support the sanitary pad idea. That was our judgement. The government listened to what the people said and removed the sanitary pad issue. So, the World Bank then brought in their money. They supported because we did that...So, the sanitary pad is no longer part of the loan grant", he said.
Meanwhile, Parliament has approved the 40 million dollars from World Bank, and according to the Education Ministry; it will as well help in expanding infrastructure in 75 Senior High Schools.
This will also increase the chances of many more students to access quality education in the country.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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Hon Ablakwa is an MP I respect from the ndc and is noted for providing documentary proof where he is right. I am pleading that now that the loan is approved he should take picture of where the sanitary pad is stated in the loan document for us to know who is telling the truth. if not then my opinion of him will diminish. I would also plead with KSK to give him the platform to do that (providing documentary evidence) for us all.
The NDC big gurus and supporters all need free SHS to boost their knowledge
When Bawumia said NDC people do not read, he was actually referring to NPP and those who voted for them. This is because whatever the govt put out, they will accept it without scrutinizing it. How can Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu tell us that a loan with the same intent and the same name be different from the first one? yet the NPP apparatchiks will accept this as a fact.
The Minority Ndc should get over their election 44.4% lose becos Nana Addo and the NPP are going to stay in power for a very long time. Ablakwa the bloody 1iar, you are losing the little respect left in opposition.
See mogu thinking. No wonder Dr. Bawamia was right when he said the NDC are bl0ckheads and have refused to read. where in the World Bank conditions for this load did it stated that, the 40 million dollars part of it is for free pads for SHS girls. Ndc bitter losers, opposition will surely be your portion for long paa.
It is God who is cursing the NPP. Is it not the same loan you Osei Kyei Mensah and the block heads in the NPP called loan for Pad? Bawumiar said NDC members does not read but i want to tell Bawumiar that NPP reads but don't understand what they reads,that is the difference.Now let me educated my fellow Ghanaian commenting here.The loan ($168m) NDC went for was called Project Appraisal Document (PAD) under Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP). NPP MPs voted against it in parliament but thank God Prof Nana Opoku Agyeman and Hon Okujato Ablakwa had the numbers and the loan was approved.That is why Ghana was able to have new Secondary Schools.
The two of you commenting on this are just uneducated , your Majority leader is ***barred word*** throwing rubbish out of his ***barred word*** mouth just to defend what he thought their doping .
So now that the money is gone, how do the girls go to school during their periods? Ablakwa just keeps concocting stories just to try and discredit the ruling government. You messed up big time in government. Just accept it. Trying to draw equalisation will not bring you back into government. Just understand that.
Hon. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, the NDC administration under Mr. John Dramani Mahama took an IMF loan of $150 million to procure sanitary pads for JHS pupils to use during their menses flows, you asseverate in Parliament today! How economically viable do you, did you, find this to the health of the country's economic growth? The country did not have other dire economic needs and wants that took huge priority over the procurement of sanitary pads for school girls, you think?