Former President and NDC Flagbearer, , has criticized the Akufo-Addo government for wasting resources while students struggle to pay fees. "There are many cases where I've seen students who have been offered admission but who have not been able to take their places in university because their families simply cannot afford to pay the fees," Mahama stated. Mahama, who was discussing the NDC's policy to absorb level 100 fees for first-year tertiary students, argued that the government has the resources to implement this policy, but is instead wasting money on unnecessary expenses. "We don't want, especially in the first year, when the students are coming in for the first time, for them to go through what we call fee stress. And that's why we call it a no-fee stress policy," Mahama said. He cited examples of government waste, including the president's travel budget and cabinet retreats, saying, "The president, a few years ago, his travel budget for travelling in nine months amounted to 69 million Ghana cedis. They held one cabinet retreat at the presidency.