Trading activities in the Central Business District (CBD) in the Odododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra Region yesterday came to a temporary halt when the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took his agenda for change campaign to the area.
Traders abandoned their wares as they rushed to see Nana Akufo-Addo and to listen to his message of hope and prosperity.
Indeed, the streets, starting from Agbogbloshie right down to the CBD, was choked with people blowing vuvuzelas with ecstasy.
The convoy of the NPP leader came to a halt with the dense crowd making it impossible for him to alight from his vehicle to mount prepared platforms to address the people.
Extreme excitement
It took hours as the convoy snaked its way through the thick crowd at a snail pace with Nana Akufo-Addo delivering intermittent messages from atop his vehicle.
The excitement of the people got to levels where some people lay on the road as though they wanted the vehicles to pass over them.
Some female traders were seen wailing and saying “Nana, we are suffering too much. Please save us from John Mahama”.
When Nana Addo eventually emerged from the top of his vehicle, the noise and applause was deafening, drowning out music that was blaring from loudspeakers mounted atop a pickup vehicle.
Ghana at crossroad
In his address, Nana Akufo-Addo said Ghana had reached a crossroad where Ghanaians had to make a decision between a future of gloom and suffering or one of hope and prosperity.
He said businesses were collapsing due to suffocating economic policies that had been implemented by the Mahama-led government.
He said the tax regime that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of President Mahama was pursuing had led to a situation where goods imported into the country had to be sold at high prices while Ghanaians did not have money to purchase those goods, thereby killing businesses and leading to heavy losses in investments.
The difficulty that Ghanaians were experiencing, he said, had reached an intolerably high level and that the time had come for Ghanaians to wake up to the reality that should they make the mistake of voting for the NDC again, then the country would become ‘hell on earth’.
“Parents are unable to pay the fees of their children. Families are unable to afford three square meals a day. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has collapsed. Utility bills have skyrocketed,” Nana asserted. Meanwhile, he said, President Mahama, his family and a few of his friends were enriching themselves at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaian.
Goodbye to Mahama
The time has come, he said, to say goodbye to the “incompetent and insensitive administration of John Mahama and the NDC to usher in a new era of Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP government.”
He said he was promising Ghanaians a government that was anchored on change that would turn the retrogression brought about by the Mahama-led administration around.
His vision, he said, was one that would bring betterment to the lives of Ghanaians under which Ghanaians would live decent lives and would not go to bed each night thinking of what they would eat the following day.
“We will restore hope and work to bring economic prosperity to Ghanaians. We will make this country attractive again so that investors can come in. We will revamp the NHIS which has collapsed under Mahama. We will implement the free Senior High School (SHS) programme so that parents can have some relief and all children will able to attend school,” he said, amidst thunderous applause and acclamation from the people.
He had earlier visited the Ablekuma South Constituency where he introduced the parliamentary aspirant for the area, Jerry Ahmed Shaib, at a rally and appealed to the people to vote for him as well.
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