Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has made a mockery of former President Mahama’s claim that he would have managed the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis better than what President Akufo-Addo is doing.
For him, that is more of a joke considering Mr. Mahama’s handling of what came to be known as ‘dumsor’, intermittent power (electricity) supply, which rocked the nation for four continuous years between 2012 and 2016 when Mr. Mahama was at the helm.
“If you want to test the robustness of any economy, you test it in a time of crisis; thankfully, we have had two crises. Under the NDC, there was an internally generated crisis which was dumsor; under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo there has been externally generated crisis which is the global Covid-19 pandemic,” Dr. Bawumia said after a meeting with the Covid-19 Management Team at the Jubilee House in Accra.
“We saw that even during dumsor, electricity prices were being increased, fuel prices were being increased, teacher training allowances were being cut, nursing training allowances were being cut, all of that was happening during that particular crisis. You look at the Covid-19 crisis and you look at the difference of what has happened. The President has reduced electricity prices; made it free for lifeline consumers; has given free water for all Ghanaians for three months and made sure that there was a stimulus package of GH¢600 million for businesses, and we have seen domestic production of PPE for health workers,” he fired.
He asked rhetorically, “I just want you to ask yourselves, how have these two crises being managed—the dumsor crisis, which crippled this economy for four years. What were the mitigating measures offered to businesses and individuals during dumsor, which was an internally generated crisis?”
Apart from that, the Vice-President said, “When it comes to the creation of jobs, over 350,000 in the public sector and more in the private sector have been created. We have restored all the allowances, including teacher training allowances; digitization of the passport application, drivers’ license and renewal of NHIS membership; online business registration at registrar general and e-justice at the courts.”
For him, “the difference could not have been starker between the leadership under a dumsor crisis and under a Covid-19.”
Tax, Initiatives
“Beyond that, we have reduced import duties, reduce taxes, we are resourcing institutions to fight corruption much more than what was the case before. We have passed the Right to Information Act, the development of the Zongo communities; we are issuing national identity cards. So far, about 11 million have been issued and by the end of the year, Ghana would have a fully working national ID system,” he pointed out.
“We have introduced mobile payment interoperability, made payments across the country very efficient; 1D1F is on course, 1V1D and One Constituency One Ambulance has been delivered; National Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan has also been delivered. Ghana has a working digital address system across the country and has provided jobs for 100,000 graduates under the National Builders Corps. We have cleaned up the mess in the financial sector and prior to this pandemic, Ghana attracted the largest foreign direct investment in West Africa. Increased Capitation Grant, equipped security services; we have absorbed the examination fees for WASSCE, absorbed the post graduate medical training fees, restored research allowance to tertiary institutions and increased significantly the award of scholarship to students and brought in medical drones for the delivery of medical supplies. Ghana has the largest medical drone supplies in world,” he emphasized.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent