Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh is a former education minister
Broadcaster and political commentator Paul Adom-Otchere has declared that Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, popularly known as NAPO, has been vindicated following a World Bank report ranking Ghana’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy as the most impactful public policy since independence in 1957.
On his flagship current affairs programme, Good Evening Ghana, Adom-Otchere argued that the international financial institution’s assessment provides empirical support for NAPO’s controversial 2024 claim that no Ghanaian President since independence has implemented a policy more impactful than that of former president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
At the time of his outdooring as running mate of the New Patriotic Party in August 2024, NAPO’s remarks sparked intense national debate. Critics described the comments as provocative, particularly in reference to leaders dating back to Kwame Nkrumah. Supporters, however, maintained that his statement was rooted in measurable policy outcomes rather than personality comparisons.
From rhetoric to results
On Good Evening Ghana, Adom-Otchere said the World Bank’s findings shift the conversation from emotion to evidence.
“When an independent global institution evaluates decades of policy and concludes that Free SHS stands above all in measurable impact, then the discussion must move from outrage to outcomes,” he said.
According to the broadcaster, the report assessed indicators including access expansion, enrolment growth, poverty alleviation effects, and long-term human capital development — areas in which Free SHS recorded unprecedented gains. International Validation.
Adom-Otchere emphasized that the validation carries particular weight because it comes from an external, data-driven institution rather than domestic political actors.
“The data has spoken,” he noted. “This is not partisan commentary. This is international evaluation.”
He added that NAPO’s central role in implementing the policy during his tenure as education minister makes the vindication especially significant.
As debate continues across political and policy circles, Adom-Otchere maintained that the World Bank report has fundamentally reframed NAPO’s 2024 comments – positioning them, he said, as a policy-based argument now reinforced by global evidence.
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