Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has thanked God for enabling the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, through President Akufo-Addo, to fulfill 40 of its major promises to Ghanaians over the last two years.
The NPP administration, led by President Akufo-Addo, assumed office on January 7, 2017.
In his New Year message to Ghanaians, Dr. Bawumia observed that with the help of God the current administration has been able to honour its promises.
He said: “As we come to the end of 2018, we have to thank God for all his mercies. We are thankful for what God has made possible for President Akufo-Addo and the NPP to accomplish during our first-two years in office.”
The Vice President, who heads the Economic Management Team of the government, went ahead to list the 40 promises that have been fulfilled by the Akufo-Addo administration.
He cited the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy, restoration of teacher and nursing trainees’ allowances and establishment of a Zongo Development Fund.
He mentioned that the government had successfully fulfilled its promise to revitalize agriculture through the ‘Planting For Food and Jobs’ programme, issued the National ID Cards, implemented a National Property Digital Address System, digitised the clearance of goods at the ports through paperless ports, established three Development Authorities (Northern, Middle Belt and Coastal), implemented the One District, One Factory programme, One Village, One Dam programme, and is delivering on the One District, One Warehouse programme.
He also indicated that government had delivered on its promises of implementing a Nation Builders Corps programme to lessen the plight of graduates, implemented a National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme to provide support and reduce hardship of entrepreneurs and rehabilitated VALCO to resume operations as promised.
He added that “we promised to leverage our natural resources to obtain a $2 billion innovative infrastructure financing arrangement with Sinohydro, and we have delivered. We promised to establish integrated bauxite and aluminum industry and we are delivering. We promised to implement mobile money interoperability and we have delivered.”
According to him, “We promised to reduce electricity prices and we have delivered. We promised to reduce the hardship in obtaining a driver’s license and we have delivered. We promised to reduce the hardship in obtaining a passport and we have delivered. We promised to reduce the hardships in renewing the national health insurance and we have delivered.”
Dr. Bawumia explained that the government has been able to establish an Office of the Special Prosecutor to tackle corruption as promised, adding that “we promised to revive Ghana’s railways and we are on course.”
He said: “We promised a transparent allocation of Ghana’s oil blocs and we have delivered. We promised to reverse the trend of declining economic growth, and we have delivered.”
Dr. Bawumia stated: “We promised to restore discipline in the management of our public finances and we have delivered with lower fiscal deficits. We promised to pass a fiscal Responsibility Act and we have delivered. We promised to establish a Fiscal Council and we have delivered.”
He mentioned that “we promised to establish a Financial Stability Council and we have delivered. We promised to reduce inflation to single digits and we have delivered. We promised to reduce interest rates and we are delivering.”
Exchange Rate Control
He said that the government had been able to control the free fall of the Ghanaian cedi against major international trading currencies like the US Dollar and Euro which the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration failed to do.
According to him, “We promised to keep our exchange rate relatively stable even in the midst of global volatilities and we have delivered. We promised to reverse Ghana’s trade position with the rest of the world from deficit to surplus and we have delivered.”
He added that “we promised to reduce taxes and we reduced and abolished 17 different taxes in two years. We have delivered. We promised to revive the NHIS and we have cleared the GH¢1.2 billion arrears inherited under the NHIS. The NHIS is working again. We have delivered.”
The Vice President further explained that “we promised to move away from a predominance of sole sourcing to tendering in procurement and we have delivered. We promised to bring about a change from destructive galamsey activities to a more regulated small-scale mining activities and we have delivered. We promised to reduce the hardship of the disabled and increase the share of the DACF to persons with disabilities by 50%; we have delivered.”
According to him, “We promised to double the Capitation Grant and we have delivered. We promised to create six new regions and we have delivered.”
Fruitful Years
In his concluding remarks, the Vice President said that “it has been two years of hard but fruitful work for the people of Ghana. We thank God for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; it has been an honour for me Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to serve as his Vice-President.”
Blossoming 2019
He seized the opportunity to wish the nation a happy new year, saying “we look forward to a blossoming 2019”.
By Melvin Tarlue