I feel proud of NDC achievements; develop roadmap to win 2016 - Mahama to Ministers
President John Dramani Mahama has charged his Ministers to develop a roadmap that would enable them win the 2016 general elections.
Advertisement
Speaking at a retreat with the Ministers at Ho on Friday, President Mahama said he felt very proud of the achievements of his government.
“We have done sufficient, in 2016 we should have been going in a better place than we did in 2012 because there is a track record to point at, there are things that we have delivered,” he said.
He added: “I feel very proud sometimes I don’t know we did it, you go to a community and the chief is praising you to high heaven for some school or some clinic I didn’t even know had been put there. But everywhere you go I mean, it’s like, yes we’ve seen the development, we have a good road, we have enough water in our small town.”
President Mahama and his ministers are in the Volta regional capital to spend Friday and Saturday at a retreat to prepare their schedule in the last year of his presidency ahead of a potential re-election in November when Ghana goes to the polls.
Also at the retreat are the Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Presidential Advisers and Staffers.
The retreat is to offer an opportunity to review strategies for the implementation of key policies earmarked in the 2016 Budget and other initiatives outlined for outdooring in the State of the Nation Address. The Ho retreat will end with a health walk on Saturday.
Listen to President Mahama’s address here {mp3}mahama_speaking_at_ho_retreat_with_ministers{/mp3}
Other Trending Stories
Responding to criticisms from the opposition that his government had borrowed more than any other Ghanaian government, President Mahama likened his predicament to former President Nkrumah who he said was also criticised for borrowing for infrastructure development.
He said Nkrumah had done so phenomenally when it came to infrastructure and had just finished the Akosombo Dam, but the same opposition [UP/NPP] at the time said he had run Ghana into debt and that he had borrowed so much, “exactly the same accusations like we are facing now and saying that we’ve run Ghana into debt.”
“And Nkrumah was saying look at Akosombo, that’s the debt they are talking about. And yet Akosombo gives us the opportunity to light up this country and increase productivity and move Ghana into the status of a modern nation.”
“It just reminds me of our present reality, where they say you’ve borrowed so much and yet they see the roads that makes it easier for us to move people and goods all across the country and yet they are seeing the hospitals that provide the opportunity for Ghanaians to have good health.”
“They are seeing the expansion in access in secondary education with the construction of the community day schools, they are seeing the banning of yellow Jeri cans because we’ve increased water supply and so people can have more access to water.”
President Mahama therefore charged his Ministers to come up with a roadmap for the elections.
“And so what we must do and what I’m thinking should come out of here is to have an analysis of what our strengths and weaknesses are, what our opportunities and threats are and come up with a roadmap on how we can all work together to ensure that we win 2016.”
“We have done sufficient in 2016, we should have been going in a better place than we did in 2012 because there is a track record to point at, there are things that we have delivered.”
“I feel very proud sometimes I don’t know we did it, you go to a community and the chief is praising you to high heaven for some school or some clinic I didn’t even know had been put there. But everywhere you go I mean its like, yes we’ve seen the development, we have a good road, we have enough water our small town.”
The President said in Brong Ahafo alone, government had provided water for 300,000 households in about 27 communities.
“I couldn’t visit all the 27 communities and commission, so we selected three of them, went and commissioned all the 27 water systems in three communities."
He insisted there was a lot that has been done in every sector, and that in the book, 'Accounting to the people', we could not even put everything in there, there is a lot that was left out.”
Advertisement
“But even if you look at that book, there is a track record, there is a strong performance when it comes to development and infrastructure that we can defend. We will win this election, I’m confident that we will win this election.”
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh
#GhanaVotes2016