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Some Minority female Members of Parliament (MPs) have described as �humiliating� the government�s open decision to distribute sanitary pads to ladies in Junior and Senior High Schools. Commenting on the impending free distribution of the �women only� item at a Minority organised press conference yesterday, MP for Abirem and Asokwa, Cecilia Obeng Dapaah, and Patricia Appiagyei, respectively described as �humiliating� the government�s public announcement that it would distribute sanitary pads to the young female adults. Citing how secretly issues affecting the menstruation of women are treated in society as an example, the female MPs opined that government ought to have respected the secrecy of the female gender. �I think we should not be treated as primitive women, backward women�,� Hon. Obeng Dapaah said in an interview with this reporter after the press conference. The Minority press conference was centered on rending explanation of the reason for their disapproval of a loan facility from the World Bank to support secondary education; a component of such loan included the free distribution of the sanitary pads. The sanitary pad was included in list of items to be given to about ten thousand, five hundred (10,5000) who may be beneficiaries of a government sponsored scholarship scheme. And this, Hon. Dapaah added is not in the best of taste. The arguing government should have found an alternative to tackling issues affecting the adolescent females other than embarking on a free distribution of sanitary towels. Female MPs, she continued, would have been the best consultants in this case and would have provided a better alternative for the government other than that offered by a fictitious non-governmental organisation (NGO) that the government claimed came out with a report stating the lack of sanitary pads as a major reason for females staying out of school. She further challenged the government to come out with the full details of the purported report by the NGO. �We are not aware, how could you come out with such a report, a report that no one has seen�therefore we are challenging the government to make the report public�,� she added. To her, ladies do not stay out of school because of issues affecting their monthly menstrual cycle. �They [young ladies] stay away from school when they are in their monthly period because of the pain so they need education on how to control the pain and how to move on�.� She continued that the issue of affordability which has made government decide to distribute for free the sanitary pads is neither here nor there hence government should have instead focused on bettering the living conditions of people through an improvement of the economy other than focusing on offering free sanitary pads. �Why parents can�t be empowered to be able to help their children�and also afford sanitary towels�just put in policies where people would be able to stand on their own feet and provide basic needs for their young ones.� MP for Asokwa, Patricia Appiagyei also shared similar sentiments and slammed government for embarking on such a petty cause and brining to fore issues that are hardly discussed in public. She continued that the NPP MPs are not just condemning the policy for the sake of it but instead are looking at the sustainability of the policy. �Why doesn�t government instead focus on giving the money to parents to invest so that they can afford sanitary pads for their children�?� she queried. She further described as a �fallacy� the argument that NPP is opposing the policy because government would win rural votes with such a policy. Minority position At the press conference addressed by the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC,) Kwaku Agyemang Manu, the Minority stated that they are not afraid of improving secondary education but are instead opposing an attempt by the Mahama administration to �use secondary education as an excuse to misappropriate public funds.� They listed issues such as too much borrowing by the government, poor value for money, fraudulent scholarship scheme, the creation of a parallel scholarship secretariat and the government�s attempt to spend GH�51 million on monitoring and evaluation under the loan as part of the reasons for their opposition to the loan. Hon. Agyemang Manu continued that these reasons offered by the opposition should be enough for the lender of the facility, World Bank, to take a second look at the decision. �Is it reasonable to the World Bank that a government should take a loan, even if at concessionary re-payment rate, to finance recurrent expenditures such as the purchase of sandals, pencils, and sanitary pads for a very limited number of Senior High students over a limited period of 3 years?� the Minority asked. He continued that the Bretton Woods institution should also consider other issues including the sustainability of the project and the setting up of parallel institutions for the purpose of the programme before going ahead with granting the facility. �We urge the World Bank to re-look at this project and bring good governance considerations to bear. This is important for the Bank�s credibility.�