Former President John Mahama has said he will not cancel allowances for trainee teachers and nurses should he win the 2020 elections.

Mr Mahama scrapped the allowances in 2014 during his first tenure of office and said in the run-up to the 2016 elections that he would rather lose the election on principle than reinstate the allowances.  

In his recent Zoom interaction with Ghanaians, however, the flag bearer of the biggest opposition party, in an answer to one of his interlocutors, said: “You know that it [allowance cancellation] was a very critical issue in the run-up to the 2016 elections”.

“What I had said was we were going to migrate the health trainees and educational trainees to the student loan scheme”, he explained, adding: “Now, what I have said going up to the 2020 elections is that, we are going to let the status quo remain”.

“It means that we are going to continue paying trainee allowances, but we will improve the student loan and adapt it so that it serves the same purpose as the allowances,” Mr Mahama said.

“So, we will increase the amount under the Student Loan Trust [Fund] and then instead of giving it to you as a lump sum, we will give it to you at regular intervals so that you continue to use it for the things you use it for.

“So, once we have done it and it’s attractive and it’s good enough for you, then we will now do the migration onto the student loan scheme. So, for now, if I become the President on January 7, 2021, we will maintain the status quo. It means that, we will continue to pay the allowances and when we have improved and made it attractive for all students to go for it, then we will now do the migration onto the student loan scheme. So, that’s my position on it as of now.”