Freddie Blay, Acting Chairman of the New Patriotic Party
The Acting Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said that Ghanaians are happy with the government, although there are some who would maintain opposing positions, regardless of the feats chalked so far.
Speaking to GhOne Television on Monday, Freddie Blay dilated on several important national issues in relation to how the NPP government has managed them since taking over the mantle of leadership from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government a little under a year ago.
Going round the country and looking at the faces of the people, he said, “There is a feeling of satisfaction that we are performing well and Ghanaians are happy so far. I believe there will be some people who will not be satisfied. There will be some opposition and quite a sizable number of people might not have voted for the NPP. It is this group of people who will not be happy with the government, no matter what you do in some cases.”
The acting national chairman said that it is challenging being in government after working really hard to assume the political leadership of the country.
According to Mr Blay, in spite of the challenges posed by leading one’s compatriots, it is nonetheless heartwarming to serve the country and community. He added, “That to me, is extremely heartwarming.”
On what makes political leadership challenging, he said, “It is challenging because you are solving problems and meeting difficulties; it is challenging because whatever task you give to yourselves to do, whatever be the case, you will definitely find challenges. That is what I call challenging. But you will definitely overcome the problems and that is what the NPP government is facing.”
President Akufo-Addo and his government are still embroiled in addressing the problems of the country and continue to meet the communities across the country, even though the problems are not yet over.
“We are engaged in government, governance and solving problems, and meeting the communities. Nana has gone all over the country region by region still seeing people, solving problems and appreciating that it is an enormous problem that we are going to face of course, still we are struggling and the problems have not ended,” Mr Blay observed.
In respect of those who voted for the NPP and are not happy, he said such persons should be patient and consider the fact that there is no magic wand for addressing such challenges. “It will take time for things to turn around,” he said, explaining that it took over eight years for the economy to get messed up, the repair work of which according to the acting national chairman, “cannot be done within a twinkle of an eye.”
He admitted though that there are people who may not be happy with the pace of efforts on the part of the government. “There is always room for improvement but as I have said don’t judge us by what we have done so far, but where we are coming from – economy messed up, cedi gone down, inflation high and neck-deep corruption,” he underscored.
“Time is needed,” he said, “to implement the flagship programmes of the government, pointing at some of these as the ‘Free senior high school’ project, the nurses and teacher trainee allowances and paying off debt of NHIS, making Cocoa Marketing Board (Cocobod) stable, increasing the output, fixing agriculture and a whole lot of things, trying to stabilize power and even making sure that somehow, we contain the tariffs on electricity so that business people can have some breathing space and employment can go up.”
To those who are “a little impatient,” he has given the assurance that it is only a matter of time and they would see things turning around.
By A.R. Gomda