Senior Law lecturer at the University of Ghana Law School Dr Raymond Atuguba has warned the free SHS policy introduced by President Akufo-Addo could collapse if it loses power.

This, according to him, is due to the absence of a legislation to make it binding on successive governments.

Speaking at a constitution review conference at Dodowa on Friday on retooling the constitution from a political to a developmental one, Dr Atuguiba who was also the Executive Secretary of the Constitutional review committee said such a legal instrument will be critical to all developmental projects.

“Let’s say that the NDC wins in 2020 or 2024, you know they can cancel free SHS…what sense will that make, but right now without a binding national development plan, they can do that.

“With a binding national development plan, once you put in the plan that every government must work progressively towards free SHS then no government can do otherwise,” he added.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has implemented the free SHS policy in fulfilment of a campaign promise made in the course of the 2016 elections.

In September this year, students who passed their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) were admitted into public senior high schools for free.

But without a law to make the policy compulsory for all governments, Dr Atuguba worries that the policy might die off with the Akufo-Addo-led administration leaving government.

He said the Constitutional Review Committee has made the first set of recommendations in which long-term developmental projects will be made binding on successive governments.

“And it is not binding in terms of if they say build five schools you build five schools, that is not what we are talking about. Binding at a certain level of governance where, for example, every government will say implement free SHS.

“And we even added that when a government does that (goes against the plan), the citizens can go to the supreme court to stop them,” he said.