2017 School Placement Fiasco: I regret accusing Mahama falsely – NAPO

The 2017 School placement suffered a serious setback as thousands of students and parents rushed to The Independence Square to get themselves or their wards placed during the computerized school placement.

Mr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh went viral after making comments that suggested Former President Mahama and the NDC helped stage the collapsing of students and parents at the Black Star Square in 2017.

The 2017 school placement which was the first under the leadership of Mr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh went down as the lowest point of administration of the school placement system since it was introduced.

The huge numbers and the limited space led to public outcry, especially as some persons who visited the grounds fainted. The viral videos that depicted the exact situation gave the then Education Minister a lot of backlashes.

In the midst of all the school placement brouhaha, he accused the outgoing president John Dramani Mahama as the mastermind behind the fainting of persons at the venue.

Truth, honesty, and upholding ethical principles and values are key to flawless leadership and in performing the interpersonal, informational, and decision functions identified by Henry Mintzberg.

The Former Education Minister and now Minister-designate for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has retracted and apologized to former President John Dramani Mahama for accusing him of busing people to the Independence Square in 2017, to come and fake a fainting scene during the placements for students into senior high schools.

He has indicated that he regrets making the comments, especially when he had no proof or evidence to support his claims.

He claimed on Asempa FM that former President John Mahama bused people to Independence Square to cause chaos during the exercise and fake collapsing to give the ruling government a bad name.

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“We opened the center at the independence square to address the needs of Ghanaians who want to go to school, but some evil people have decided to pay GHc 20 and GHc 50 to people to go there and stage fainting and collapse, yesterday some of the collapses were fake. I’m even wondering why they brought little kids to the centre,” he stated.

He was asked to apologize after making the comments, but the nominee refused.

But appearing before the Vetting Committee on Friday, February 12, 2021, the nominee apologized for his comments.

He was confronted by Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the NDC MP for North Tongu if he had evidence to support his claims.

He originally asked if the Chair could produce the former President before the Committee so he will put it to his face so the committee would be able to discover that his (Prempeh’s) claims were true.

But the Chair, Joseph Osei Owusu said he would not be able to produce the former leader hence the nominee should answer the question.

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He then responded saying he would have said these things differently if he had the opportunity.

However, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu put it to him if he has regretted his action.

When asked if he could prove, he said the information he relied on was not authentic hence he has withdrawn

However, when asked to apologize, he said if those words used hurt the former president, he would withdraw and apologize.

This was after Alhassan Suhuyini had also raised the same issue.