Social democratic NDC, Mahama yet to deliver one social policy – NPP

Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoa, has said the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) does not have any policy alternative to benefit Ghanaians.

According to him, as a social democratic party, the NDC has not yet implemented a single socially-centered policy to the benefit of the people.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, November 11 in reaction to the criticisms against the Akufo-Addo administration by former President John Dramani Mahama, he said,

“So the real question, ladies, and gentlemen, as demanded by the Constitution. Has the NDC, under former President and several times candidate Mahama, presented credible political ideas and a social and economic programme capable of moving Ghana beyond the present and into a future of wealth creation? Please let us together examine briefly his claims against his delivery.

“John Mahama and the NDC are yet to deliver one socially sensitive policy for the benefit of Ghanaians to justify their tag of social democracy. The monumental failure of the ‘one-time premium’ NHIS proposal is a glaring example.

“They collapsed Free Maternal Health Care. They delivered a few cargo vans in the name of ambulances. They opposed drone services to improve medical supply delivery. They struggled with the capitation grant for schools.

"They barely sustained Mass Transportation. They sunk MASLOC with alleged corruption. They just about managed to continue with LEAP and School Feeding, leaving heavy arrears. Above all, they opposed and continue to oppose free education, a policy that is perhaps the most socially inclusive in the Fourth Republic.

“On the ‘thank you tour’ campaign trail, John Mahama, who is seeking your mandate to come back into Government for only four years, spoke about four themes, none of which he offered solutions for.

“He talked about the 2020 General Elections being violently rigged against his victory. Only he talks like that. The rest of the country and the international observer community know otherwise. CODEO corroborated the EU findings of a free, fair, peaceful, and credible election, whilst several media houses called the election for President Akufo-Addo well before the EC formally did.

“Within six months, in the teeth of Covid -19, a brand new voter register was compiled and voting done and declared in free fair and peaceful conditions. For the first time ever, the entire electoral process was paid for by the Government. The Government also guaranteed the most peaceful Ghanaian election ever by ensuring that political vigilantism was eliminated.

“The very unfortunate deaths occurring from a security incident during counting is not reflective of the entire election and its use to describe the election is disingenuous and an affront to the families who lost loved ones. So apart from John Mahama’s fertile imagination and the cabal in the NDC leadership who prop him up, everybody else, including the Supreme Court of Ghana, knows that John Mahama lost the 2020 Presidential elections fair and square.

“His second favourite topic is abandoned projects. It is now clear that no matter the response, he will insist on his abandoned projects mantra. Because it sounds good in his ears. Yet, if he had really done infrastructure in the interest of Ghanaians, the projects would have returned him to power. The truth is that with the IMF in charge, he had no money to do roads. He mortgaged the Road Fund to the hilt and sneaked through the backdoor of Kufuor’s cocoa roads initiative to overburden COCOBOD with billions of questionable road contracts.

“His suspect E-Block accounting will be dealt with in other fora but his record of signing onerous ‘Take or Pay’ contracts and high priced natural gas deals have to be exposed for the financial problems they continue to pose to the economy. His inability to fund fuel to run power plants protracted ‘dumsor’ causing havoc to businesses and social life, an admission he made to Parliament several times.

“His third favourite topic is about current debt and how he was accused of borrowing excessively. Of course, if you borrow recklessly, you need to be told. His IMF journey was because of his inability to manage the dangerous territory into which he led our financial sector.

"He confessed in Parliament how recklessly the financial sector had been mismanaged leading to major losses in savings, incomes, and jobs for banks and savings and loans financial houses. Former President Mahama was the architect in chief of the financial sector bubble and its collapse. Simpliciter. He can never run away from putting us on the path to mega debt.”

"In any event, in seeking to lead this country for only four years, he has not contributed positively to any conversation on restructuring the financing patterns of this country. How and where is he going to refinance the current public debt and run his programs, if any? His only solution is the IMF. In that case, what new thing is he bringing?

"Indeed, in refusing to admit the economic ravages of Covid-19, as well as laughing off the international financial magazine analysis that the NDC MP Sam George’s advocacy style could cost us some standing on international financial markets, the former President continues to keep the question of his incompetence on the front burner.

"Arguably, with the whole world in deficit financing mode, this is the best time to get the old financial rules that disadvantage developing countries re-written. And that exactly is what President Akufo-Addo and his financial advisors are doing. Business as usual will not deliver the resources needed to bridge our significant infrastructure and social capital gaps," he added. Read Full Story