Dr Mustapha Hamid, NPA Boss
The governing New Patriotic Party says when it comes to fulfilling manifesto promises, the opposition National Democratic Congress comes nowhere near it. It has therefore asked Ghanaians to reject the manifesto of the NDC in the December 7 general election.
According to the NPP, while it is committed to fulfilling its manifesto promises, the opposition party is also committed to dishonouring its promises.
Using the 2012 manifesto of the opposition party as proof, Dr Mustapha Hamid, NPP Deputy National Campaign Manager, in charge of communications, said at a press conference in Accra, yesterday: “Mr Mahama is no keeper of campaign promises,” and thus cannot be trusted when he makes more promises.
“Let us ask Mr Mahama, what happened to the promise to address systematically the bottlenecks in production and transmission of power, and bring to an end the problem of erratic power supply by the end of 2013? The answer to this question… was the exacerbation of the problem, which led to the infamous DUMSOR crisis,” Dr Hamid said.
He further stated that the NDC, in its 2012 manifesto, promised to construct 200 new Community Day Senior High Schools across the country, but was able to build only 46 by the time it lost power.
“The NDC also promised to establish a new public university in the Eastern Region, but only organised a sod cutting ceremony few weeks to the 2016 general elections, an obvious attempt to hoodwink voters. As we speak the NPP, under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has completed this university.
“The NDC promised to expand the NHIS benefit package to cover family planning, mental health, prostate cancer and the physically challenged. Can any Ghanaian attest to the fulfilment of this promise?
“The NDC further promised to establish Job and Enterprise Centres (JEC) in all regions to help unemployed youth. Characteristic of the NDC, Ladies and gentlemen, this never happened,” he stated.
“They also promised that through the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), they would co-invest in leading agro-industrial establishments and increase the number of shea-nut factories from 1 (in Buipe) to 3 (one each in the Upper East and Upper West regions). It will surprise you to know that it was in 2019, under the NPP’s enviable One District, One Factory programme that a shea butter factory was operationalised in Sheaga in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region,” he added.
Promise-keeping NPP
On the other hand, Dr Hamid said, the NPP has fulfilled majority of its manifesto promises made in all sectors of the country.
“It is worth noting that, of all the educational sector promises that were made by the NPP in its 2016 manifesto, we can confidently state that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has successfully delivered on such promises,” he said.
“The party’s flagship campaign promise of providing Free Senior High School (FSHS) education to Ghanaian children of school going age is today a reality. An estimated 1.2 million Ghanaian children, from both rich and poor homes, regardless of ethnicity and religious affiliation have benefitted from the Free Senior High School initiative.
“In addition, 804 facilities have been built across various Senior High Schools in response to the 69per cent increment in enrolment occasioned by the Free Senior High School policy. Most importantly, Ghanaians must be reminded that the NDC strongly insisted that the Free Senior High School policy was not possible; that it could only be implemented in 20 years and wondered how the NPP was going to fund it,” he added.
Superior records
Comparing the records of the Akufo-Addo government with the Mahama government, Dr Hamid said the annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.0 per cent under the NPP has been stronger than Mahama’s 4.0 per cent.
“The average 4.7 per cent annual GDP Per Capita growth rate under Nana Akufo-Addo has been stronger than John Mahama’s 1.6 per cent. The average 14.9 per cent annual growth rate of Exports under President Nana Akufo-Addo has been higher than John Mahama’s 1.1 per cent.
“President Nana Akufo-Addo has ably reduced inflation from 17.5 per cent recorded under the Mahama administration in 2016 to meet the central bank’s inflation target range of 6-10 per cent in 2018 and 2019.The average 6.7 per cent annual Manufacturing Value Added growth has been higher under President Nana Akufo-Addo than John Mahama’s 2.1 per cent,” he stated.
Dr Hamid added: “The average 1.4 per cent annual growth rate of trained teachers in Lower Secondary Education has been higher under Nana Akufo-Addo than Mr. Mahama’s 0.9 per cent
“For the first time in the history of Ghana, children out of school, measured as a percentage of Primary School Age, reduced to 0.8 per cent under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo. This is lower than the 2018 average of 1.67 per cent for OECD Member Countries,” he stated
He further noted that “the data also reveals that, on average, successive governments of the NPP have performed better in improving the living conditions of Ghanaians than successive governments under the NDC.”
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