By Iddi Yire/Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, June 11, GNA – Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education will soon present the Free Senior High School (SHS) Bill to Parliament for consideration and passage by the House.
The Bill, when passed into law would regulate the operations of the Free SHS and make its implementation binding on all successive Governments.
Mr Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business in Parliament made this known on Tuesday during the “Leaders’ Media Briefing” at Parliament House in Accra.
The Free SHS is a flagship programme of the Government, which was introduced since September 2017, is aimed at making senior secondary education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) free for all Ghanaians.
The Majority Leader noted that Chapter Five of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides some aspirational indicatives, which were not justiciable but once by the policy of Government, an aspiration as envisaged by the Constitution was put into action, then to make it justiciable, hence a law could be enacted to regulate it.
He noted that in other words there were provisions in the Constitution that one could not enforce; that is “you cannot claim the right to those provisions”.
“The fact that they are there does not mean that you can apply to the court to enforce those rights, because they are aspirational.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin said when it gets to a point that a Government lifts it up to give light to it, there was the need to enact a law to regulate the same; adding that “and in doing so, it should have been given light, then the lawyers will say it has become justiciable, in the sense that a court of law can rely on it to make certain orders, enforce certain rights and give rights and take certain actions,” he said.
“So, I think that this free SHS Bill if we consider it as a House, what that means is that it becomes mandatory for the Government to implement it unless it is repealed, no Government will have the right to say I am not going to enforce Free SHS because now there is a law; so if you fail (to implement it), a citizen can apply to the Court as his bonafide and the Court exact justice in that citizen’s favour, so that is the good news about this Bill.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin reiterated that the Free SHS Bill would ensure the sustainability of the Free SHS policy.
On other Bills to consider during the Third Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, the Majority Leader cited the Parliament Bill, the Presidential Transition Bill, the Consumer Protection Bill, the Housing Authority Bill, the Architect Registration Bill and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) Amendment Bill.
He said the Environmental Protection Agency Bill was also high on the table, in addition to the Vaccine Development and Manufacturing Bill and the Affirmative Action Bill.
GNA