President Nana Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says former President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) are desperate to return to power to mismanage the country once again.
He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should work harder to assure Ghanaians that Mr. Mahama and his NDC cannot be an alternative as far as the leadership of the country is concerned.
“We must, however, be reminded at all times that we are up against an opponent who is desperate to return to power to continue the agenda of mismanaging the economy to the suffering and despair of businesses, households and families, thereby jeopardizing the future of our children,” President Akufo-Addo made a series of posts on his Facebook page yesterday and cautioned the NPP against any form of complacency ahead of the December 7 general election.
“We cannot afford to let that happen. We cannot, therefore, be complacent. We have to work hard for victory regardless of the fact that ‘One Good Term Deserves Another’,” he stressed.
Over To Voters
President Akufo-Addo said, “It bears repeating that 2020 is between the current President and the President who was voted out decisively in the last contest. It is about leadership. It is about integrity,” adding “it is about the performances of the two men when given the opportunity by the Ghanaian people to lead.”
“It is about measuring records against promises. It is about which of the two leaders has shown in office that he knows how to manage the economy. It is about which of the two leaders you, the voter, can trust to deliver. It is about which of the two men you can trust with the future of your children.It is about which of the two leaders you know you can depend on in times of crisis,” he pointed out.
“It is about which of the two leaders you believe can put in motion the necessary measures to revive and strengthen the economy, businesses and social services, and build our country out of the coronavirus pandemic. It is about which of the two leaders can implement a programme of transformation,” the President added.
NPP Efforts
President Akufo-Addo stated, “We, in the NPP, have demonstrated that with the support of the Ghanaian people, we are capable of supervising the transformation of our economy and nation, and this is all that Ghanaians want,” adding “I am confident that, together, all of us in Ghana, with the appropriate leadership, can fulfill the dreams and aspirations of our forebears, who initiated the struggle for our nation’s liberation and independence from colonial rule, and who envisioned Ghana to be a united, democratic, prosperous and happy nation, the beacon of freedom and justice in Africa and the world.”
Loud Message
He said the NPP needed to do well to sell its numerous works to the public for them to appreciate them better, saying, “Let us make sure our message is heard loud and clear from Axim to Aflao, and from Accra to Paga. Let us go to every part of the country and spread the story of our good news; tell the young people about the possibilities Free SHS will present them; tell the farmers about the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which translates into enhanced income levels for them; and let us tell the business entrepreneurs about the reduction of their tax burdens and the improvement of the business climate, so their businesses can flourish and they can, in turn, create jobs.”
Manifesto Programmes
He said, “I believe in the programmes that we have drawn up in our manifesto, because they will continue the nation on the path of social and economic transformation, on which we have embarked. Indeed, they will lead to the transformation of Ghana to the benefit of all Ghanaians.”
“When the coronavirus pandemic, that has brought havoc to the lives and livelihoods of people in all the nations of the world, reared its head in Ghana, we took immediate, decisive actions to contain and limit its spread, and protect the population, actions from which the nation is still benefitting and, subsequently, took the equally bold decision to implement a Relief, Resilience and Recovery plan, with the overarching aim of providing relief to the ordinary Ghanaian and being able to find more resources to strengthen the productive sectors of the economy to ensure sustained economic activity,” he explained.
He said “government has gone ahead to establish the one hundred billion cedi Ghana COVID Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises programme, (we call it, fittingly, the Ghana CARES programme), whose aim, over the next three years, is to stabilize, revitalize and transform our nation, through the improvement of the country’s business climate, and support for the private sector,” adding “all our flagship programmes, be it Free SHS, 1D1F, 1V1D, the Programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, et al, have been rooted in the effort to liberate the energies of the people to grow an economy of which all the people can be part.”
More Work
He said the NPP administration had embraced the application of digital technology in the delivery of public services, restored the allowances of nursing and teacher trainees scrapped by the Mahama government, provided each constituency with an ambulance, reduced the benchmark values of import duties by as much as 50% and, in the case of vehicles, by 30%, put an end to the Unemployed Graduates Association by creating Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and several other job creation initiatives targeted at the youth.
“We have systematically enhanced the capacity of the anti-corruption institutions of the state; and we have superintended over the successful reorganization of our regional governance structure, resulting in the creation of six (6) new regions, with strong popular support,” he indicated.
He also said “we have changed the outlook on education in this country; we have revived and strengthened our healthcare delivery system; we have been busy in the delivery of physical infrastructure in all parts of the country; we have made huge investments in agriculture, with the goal of ensuring our nation’s food security; we have cleaned the financial sector mess we inherited and have, with the active co-operation of the Bank of Ghana, strengthened the banking and financial sector; and we have shown that the economy of our country can be transformed and diversified by a government of the New Patriotic Party.”
God’s Grace
“In the nearly four years that it has been my abiding privilege, by the grace of God, to lead this party in government, we have kept our eyes firmly on these beliefs, and we have recorded successes in all sectors of national life, which have had significant impact on the lives of all Ghanaians. By common consent, it has been established that we have kept faith with the people of Ghana, by fulfilling the great majority of our manifesto promises (sic),” he said.
By Ernest Kofi Adu