Kwame Pianim, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has jokingly told President John Dramani Mahama that their friendship will break if he helps teachers with their housing.
The NPP member at the event jokingly warned President John Dramani Mahama against helping teachers with housing; he noted that such a move would embarrass his party.
According to Mr Pianim, he deliberately refused to appeal to the President for housing support for teachers, despite pressure from others to do so.
Speaking at the 54th National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Accra on Monday, January 5, Kwame Pianim stated, “Mr President, I am happy you are here. Whenever the teachers call you, you don’t send just anybody.
Some people will not even send the Minister of Education, but I don’t want to praise you too much (he drew laughter from the crowd), because the way we started with everybody cheering. I don’t want to lose the support of the teachers, they way you’re going, you’ll take 80% of the teachers’ votes—and we don’t want that”.
He further added, “Mr President, here’s a fourth thing I will not ask you for,” he said. “Even though Thomas is very keen for me to say, ask the President to help us with housing, I said no.”
The senior NPP figure asserted that his party failed to adequately address teachers’ housing needs while in government and jokingly suggested it would be politically awkward to see the Mahama administration succeed where the NPP had failed.
“I said, we didn’t help you with housing. Why would I let the President help you with housing?” he stated, which triggered laughter from the audience.
“So I’ll tell the President, Mr President, whatever you do, if you help the teachers with housing and put my party to shame, our friendship will break,” he said.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama at the event condemned a viral video which captured some students attacking a teacher.
Mahama condemned the recent attacks on teachers as he expressed concerns over the handling of students who attack their teachers.
It will be recalled that last year October 2025, a viral video captured students reportedly attacking the teacher after he refused to allow them to cheat in exams.
Reports later surfaced that the parents of the students reached an out-of-court settlement with the teacher.
Speaking at the Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), President Mahama stated, “Indeed, I saw the video of the Maths teacher being beaten because he refused to allow our students to cheat, and they had a sense of entitlement.
“How is that? This is assault. It is criminal. But when we inquired, the police also said the teacher was compensated, so he didn’t want to press charges anymore”.
At least the children should have been booked, they should have been taken through the legal process, and at least if nothing at all, they should have been bonded to be of good behavior for a period of time, and then we will believe that justice has been done. As for assault on teachers, I am with you 100%, we will deal with it,” he stated.
Watch the video below:
“The way you’re going, you’ll take 80% of the teachers’ votes—and we don’t want that”
— GTV Ghana (@GTV_Ghana) January 5, 2026
-Ghanaian Economist, Kwame Pianim shares a light moment with President John Dramani Mahama #gtv pic.twitter.com/GyFP2PHqh5