Justin Frimpong Kodua, NPP General Secretary
The General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Frimpong Kodua, has urged the public to have trust in the government, as it takes measures to mitigate the current economic hardship in the country, and eventually revive the economy.
He said the party sees Ghana’s current challenges as yet another opportunity for the NPP government to do what it does best in getting the country out of difficulties.
“We aim to reduce inflation to post-pandemic levels, keep the national debt at sustainable levels, create jobs and fund public infrastructure projects, particularly roads and schools. As reiterated by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, in the Mid-Year Budget Review, President Akufo-Addo is determined to revive the economy in the next two and half years,” he stated.
Speaking during a media engagement yesterday to commemorate the party’s 30th anniversary, Mr Frimpong Kodua affirmed that the NPP “has a history of turning things around when the country faces crisis”
Echoes of 2001
He recounted the 2001 experience when the John Kufuor administration inherited difficult economic conditions from the predecessor administration, saying “the party showed true mettle by not only overcoming the problems it met, but took on the most ambitious programme of economic and social interventions.”
“The Kufuor administration took the brave but unpopular decision to subscribe to the IMF Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPIC) programme. Despite the gloomy economic conditions at the onset of his administration, the Kufuor government would perform what many have termed as a miraculous economic turn-around, by his second tenure in office.
“Notable among his achievements were the attainment of a lower middle-income status economy in 2007, introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme, School Feeding Programme, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), National Youth Employment Programme, Metro Mass Transport System, Cocoa Mass Spraying, Repeal of Criminal Libel Law and Capitation Grant,” he revealed.
On the 30th anniversary of the party’s establishment, the NPP’s General Secretary believes the government is more than determined to harness the best faculties in the country in providing solutions to prevailing challenges.
“We, the current adherents, are extremely proud of the tradition to which we lay claim and the role that the New Patriotic Party and its antecedents have played in making the rule of law, multi-party democracy, respect for individual liberties and the pursuit of a liberal economy the distinguishing factors of the political and economic landscape of Ghana,” he stated.
Before Covid-19
He reiterated that before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, government was on the path to economic transformation.
“Growth rate had increased from 3.7% in 2016, the lowest since 1992 to average 7% from 2017 to 2019. The rate of inflation also declined by 33% over the same period to 7.9%. Interest rate declined from 26% in 2015 to 16% in 2019.
“In addition, the amount of total revenue used in servicing debts also dropped from 73% in 2018 to 58.9% by December 2019. In the midst of all that the government still funded its ambitious programmes such as the Free Senior High School initiative, the One District One Factory initiative and undertook an unprecedented building of roads and railway infrastructure,” he noted.
As part of the effort at sanitising the banking sector, he recounted, the Akufo-Addo administration committed itself to saving the deposits of 4.6 million Ghanaians.
United front
Touching on the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, he appealed to all members, executives, loyalists and sympathisers of the NPP to be guided by history, citing the split that culminated in the defeat in 1979 to the PNP administration and also lessons that the NPP failed to learn after the John Kufuor administration in 2008.
He pledged on behalf of the national executives to act as impartial referees in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries, as example to constituency and regional executives as well as MPs and MMDCEs.
He also admonished rank and file party people to refrain from the use of provocative language, character assassination and lampooning of rivals in the lead up to the party’s primaries.
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