Nana Boakye aka Nana B and Sammy Gyamfi
The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) yesterday served notice that it will face the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) squarely in its latest enterprise of churning out vile propaganda against the government.
The NPP flatly dismissed claims by the NDC that the Akufo-Addo administration has failed to effectively manage the affairs of Ghana, warning Ghanaians that the NDC ‘is still evil’ and seeks to use desperate and diabolic means to capture power.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the ‘Moment of Truth’ series yesterday, the NDC’s Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, revealed that NPP was running a government based on deceit and assured Ghanaians that the party would continue to hold the government accountable.
He was of the belief that the “NPP’s temple built on wicked lies will surely come crumbling in the fullest of time.”
According to Mr. Gyamfi, who recently lied about President Akufo-Addo’s visit to South Africa, “The NPP has and will always have a DNA of lies, double talk and hypocrisy. However, no pillar built on lies can stand the test of the moment of truth. We shall continue to expose the abysmal performance of this impotent, inert, nepotistic and dishonest government.”
Unrepentantly Corrupt
But in quick response to allegations made against the ruling party by Mr. Gyamfi at the Truth Forum, the NPP said emphatically that the NDC, after deliberately plunging Ghana into serious economic crisis through corrupt schemes and gross incompetence, remains unrepentant and seeks to shamelessly throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians.
Throwing more light on the mess inherited by the NPP in the banking sector, the National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye, aka Nana B, who addressed the media at the press conference, said: “After overseeing the execution of fraudulent and evil malpractices that was going to ensure that over 1.2 million Ghanaians were going to lose their life savings, they (NDC) shamelessly are shouting from the rooftop that our attempts to correct the wrongs are leading to a reduction in the bank growth.”
Mr. Boakye stressed that “they are unrepentant in their outlook. They have no remorse for the mess they so mercilessly created. How sinister can a political party be? You will recall that in 2015, the Bank of Ghana did an asset quality review which revealed the imminent close down of a number of banks in this country due to deficiencies in corporate governance.”
He condemned the NDC for unscrupulously accusing the current government of collapsing the banks.
“The NDC is seeking to say that this government is collapsing indigenous banks. What is clear is that the current leadership of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is determined to help genuine local banks who follow the rules to survive.”
Poverty of Thought
He bemoaned the NDC’s assertion that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia had moved from the field of economics to technology, adding that “the statement by the NDC clearly shows a complete misunderstanding of what economic management is all about.”
He added that “listening to the NDC what becomes clear to us is that they are suffering from deliberate ignorance and want the entire Ghanaian populace to share in their malady.”
According to him, “They say that Dr. Bawumia has said that the NPP government has delivered on many of its promises and so he is a liar. They then went on to say that the NPP has not fulfilled all of its promises in two years and have failed the good people of Ghana.”
“Is it not clear that they have failed to appreciate the four letter word many? Do they understand what many means? Is it not clear that this whole press conference was organized because they think the people of Ghana cannot see the difference between many and all?” he quizzed.
“What is even more baffling is that they admit that the Vice President stated that the NPP government is on track to deliver on all of its promises. So clearly, there is no attempt to pretend that all of the promises have been achieved. Looking at the mess they left behind, evidenced by the huge deficits and other indicators, this government has done astronomically well to bring our country to where we are.”
$1m per constituency
Touching on the claim by NDC that the NPP government has failed to fulfill its promise to give each constituency $1 million, Mr. Boakye said: “The NPP, mindful of the probability that the funds could be wasted if the proper structures were not put in place, decided to carefully construct a structure to ensure accountability and value for money, waited and put the structure in place before execution.”
According to him, “As we speak, laws for all development authorities have been passed. Do we need to remind Ghanaians of how funds for the infamous GYEEDA were released hurriedly and spent wickedly, resulting in over GH¢1 billion wastage of public funds? After investigations, what happened to the cronies and business associates of ex-President Mahama who were involved?”
He said: “The NPP, therefore, did the right thing and spent the initial stages setting up structures. It’s sad that the NDC has not repented from its evil ways through which they steal government funds.”
The NPP National Youth Organizer added “The facts are that the NPP promised $1 million per constituency in its manifesto through the IPEP. As we speak, every constituency can boast of at least three of these projects – warehouse as part of One District, One Warehouse project; One Village, One Dam projects; community-based water systems and 10-seater institutional toilets facilities.”
Debt And Cedi Politics
Touching on the NDC’s claims on the country’s debt stock, he recounted that “the NDC inherited a total public debt of GH¢8.9 billion from President Kufuor, increased it to GH¢122.3 billion, an increase of about 114 billion cedis, increased our debt-to-GDP ratio from 32% to 73.1% and reduced our growth rate from 8.5% to 3.7%.”
He said: “The NPP has reduced the debt-to-GDP ratio from 73% to 57% and grown our economy from 3.7% to 8.1%. So you see, we have borrowed less, reduced our debt service burden and enhanced the economy more than the NDC.”
Again, Mr. Boakye explained that “the argument by the NDC on exchange rate depreciation is dishonest. While we agree that the ultimate goal of every government is to see a stronger currency in the context of the exchange rate management, our performance far outweighs that of the NDC. How can the NDC that presided over 31% depreciation of the cedi during their tenure blame us for reducing the rate of the cedi depreciation from 31% to 7%?”
He said most of the borrowed money by the current administration was used to service the debt inherited from the NDC.
Projects So Far
Outlining some projects the Akufo-Addo government has undertaken in two years, he mentioned that “Banking sector clean-up cost us GH¢9.6 billion of the total debt we borrowed”.
He also cited the construction of the Eastern Regional University, Terminal 3, Kumasi Airport Phase II, Accra Sanitation project, design and construction of 84km railway line from Tema to Akosombo, Self Help Rural Electrification and various roads as some of the achievements of the government so far.
By Melvin Tarlue