Vice-President Bawumia
Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has a penchant for opposing anything good for the country, especially when it is being proposed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He said the posture of the NDC elements shows clearly that they do not have the country’s welfare at heart and are only interested in propaganda and how they can capture power and turn round to mismanage everything.
The Vice-President ‘opened fire’ in Takoradi in the Western Region on Tuesday when he cut the sod for the commencement of work on the first ever interchange in the regional capital.
“The NDC has a trademark in opposing everything. Any good initiative we bring out, they oppose it. First, they say it is impossible and then when we do it, they say they can do it better,” he said.
He said every time the NPP administration attempted to implement massive projects that would benefit the country, the NDC would vehemently oppose the implementation but would come later to claim they could do it better.
“They opposed the Sinohydro deal, but we are giving the Ghanaian people infrastructure through that. They opposed Free SHS and said it was impossible, but we have successfully implemented that, and now they say they can do it better,” he said.
“The construction of the PTC Interchange fits into the government’s programme of improving the road infrastructure of Sekondi-Takoradi and to modernize the twin city,” he added.
The Vice-President said “in line with the government’s agenda to ensure inclusive and accelerated economic development, we have focused our efforts on the first term in office to provide infrastructure for all.”
He pointed out that “the NDC did not understand the Sinohydro deal because it was the first time such a transaction was being proposed and introduced in Ghana and the opposition party referred to it as a ‘419’ initiative.”
“Our approach to the infrastructure development of Ghana has been two folds: first, to provide for the infrastructure needs of the poor and deprived communities for services such as water, toilets, clinics and electricity. Second, to provide for the broader infrastructure needs of the economy at the macro-level to drive economic growth, such as ports, major highways and inner city roads and bridges,” he explained.
More Opposition
He said “on the Free SHS, for instance, the NDC said if they had two billion cedis they would not have spent it on education. But the NPP persevered and made it happen. They said the same about NABCO that it was a hoax, but we made it happen.”
“They opposed ‘one constituency one ambulance’, but every constituency has an ambulance; they opposed ‘one village one dam’, but the farmers and chiefs in the north are commending the government; they opposed one ‘district one factory’, but we are building the factories, and now they say they can do better,” Dr. Bawumia fired.
He also recounted how the NDC opposed the Zipline medical drone service which is currently serving a useful purpose, adding, “They even opposed the Zipline medical drone service and told people that we would use the drones to take pictures of them in their bathrooms, but we have all seen the impact of the Zipline drone in providing emergency medical service to remote parts of the country.”
“The NDC also opposed the introduction of the digital addressing system to produce digital addresses for every location in Ghana,” he said.
“The NDC opposed the idea by the government to allow final-year students of SHS and JHS to go to school and prepare to take their respective final examination, but now the children are taking their exams. They opposed it and said we wanted the children to die. But by the grace of God, the SHS students have completed and our children are writing their BECE papers,” he fired again, adding “that is their trademark; everything good, they oppose it. And then they will turn around later and want to be a part of it,” he said.
NPP Focused
He said the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo would not be deterred by the NDC’s ‘unwarranted’ opposition to everything good that they were doing and they would press hard to get Ghanaians the best.
“Our thinking about infrastructure for all includes all the amenities that people need in order to unleash the potentials for growth in their communities, constituencies and districts, and ultimately improve the conditions of everyday living.
“These are needed to support industrial growth and other supporting economic activities, especially in the urban areas (such as the Takoradi-Sekondi metropolis),” he added.
By Ernest Kofi Adu & Emmanuel Opoku