The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has asked Ghanaians to give a deaf ear to the promises made by President John Dramani Mahama, since “his National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration” has no track record of being believed.
According to the party, all the promises made by President Mahama last Wednesday night when he gave highlights of the key indicators in the party’s manifesto were all meant to deceive Ghanaians to retain him in the 2016 election.
At a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, the Communications Director of NPP, Nana Akomea, said every promise documented in the NDC manifesto was pure deception.
“Everyone is entitled to make promises. When we hear small political parties making promises, we can forgive them because they have not been in government before but for NDC, who have spent eight years in office to make such promises after they have failed in eight years is unpardonable,” he said.
President Mahama last Wednesday in Accra, outlined some major initiatives his government would focus on should the NDC secure the needed votes to win the upcoming general election.
In the highlights of the party’s manifesto, he said the NDC manifesto, titled “Changing Lives, transforming Ghana”, would be hinged on four thematic areas.
The areas were: putting people first, strong and resilient economy for job creation; expanding social and economic infrastructure; and transparent and accountable governance.
Presenting the highlights, President Mahama promised to create five extra regions, give tablets to each senior high school student, and ensure the election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs), among other assurances.
Stealing from NPP
Nana Akomea accused President Mahama of being empty on ideas to develop Ghana because almost all the promises he made were stolen from the NPP with the rest being repeated from “NDC’s 2008 and 2012 manifestos”.
“President Mahama, in putting together his 2016 manifesto, chose to either steal ideas from the NPP or simply repeat promises first given in NDC’s 2008 and 2012 manifestos, which he failed woefully to implement when he had the mandate to do just that,” he said.
For instance, Nana Akomea said the NPP’s flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had earlier promised to trigger the constitutional process to create regions when elected in 2016.
“President Mahama now says he is also planning to trigger a similar process to create new regions,” he added.
On the MMDCEs, Nana Akomea said his party’s flag bearer had promised to ensure that DCEs were elected but President Mahama, who kicked against the idea in 2011, ‘’is now promising the same thing.”
Nana Akomea said in March 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo announced to the chiefs and people of Suma Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region that as part of his plans to transform cashew farming into a major cash crop and export earner for Ghana, he would establish a Cashew Marketing Board to regulate the industry.
“Last night, President Mahama stole from Akufo-Addo yet again, saying “We will establish a cashew board with its headquarters in the Brong Ahafo Region,” he said.
Concerning repetition of promises, Nana Akomea said the NDC had made a lot which the party had failed to implement.
“The NDC in 2008 promised to create full employment. Instead, what they did was to build a strong foundation for creating massive unemployment. NYEP left the NDC with 110,000 employed but today, it has been replaced with a scandalously corrupt GYEEDA which employed less than 70,000 young people,” he said.
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