Economy on strong footing - Prez Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday set the tone for his re-election bid with a vigorous defence of the achievements of his government.

Delivering his State of the Nation Address to Parliament – the last in his first term – the President, who spoke for about four hours, said, “The seed we sowed three years ago has taken roots.”

“Some have even become trees,” he added, to rapturous applause from the Majority side in the House.

From one sector to another, he enumerated the successes chalked up by his administration, most often backing them with evidence, and gave every indication that his address was not meant to be a goodbye speech.

Confidence

The speech was replete with the lines: “When I leave office in 2020” and “In my second term in office” to signal his confidence of retaining power in the November presidential election.

The mention of those lines received mixed reactions from both sides of the House — while the Majority welcomed them by waving white handkerchiefs and shouting “Listen, listen”, the Minority, who were not ready to take any of that, responded: “Bye-bye, bye-bye”.

In a clear departure from previous addresses, the President this time provided pictorial evidence of various completed and ongoing projects, while the names of some people in the public gallery who he said had benefitted from various interventions were mentioned for them to stand up to back his claims.

Tribute

President Mahama began his address with a tribute to the late Abuakwa North Member of Parliament, Mr J.B. Danquah-Adu, and moved to other business before returning to security for MPs.

He indicated that the security of MPs was of prime concern to the government and mentioned various interventions, including increased police patrols, to protect the legislators.

Transformation agenda

Going into full business, the President explained why the government was committed to giving full meaning to its “putting the people first” slogan.

“There is a direct line between policy and people,” he told the lawmakers.

He said the transformation agenda of the government was on course and that it was bringing real change to the country and its people.

The mention of the word “change” sent Minority members on their feet as they shouted “Change is coming” to indicate that the NPP was going to win the November elections.

But the President shot back, saying, “I don’t think you heard what I said.”

He explained that the change that was coming was through the policies and programmes initiated by his administration to transfrom the lives of the people and not what the Minority thought.

The changes, he said, also hinged on the economic strides being made by the country.

From very challenging times, he said, the economy was gaining a strong footing as the cedi had begun to stabilise.

The IMF programme the country entered into, he said, had bolstered the progress made in the economy.

Education

President Mahama mentioned the Community Day Senior High schools project as the single most ambitious educational project ever in the history of the country.

He said 123 of the schools were at different stages of completion, while four of them had already been completed.

He also spoke about the progress made in school enrolment as a result of government policies, saying 54,800 children who otherwise would have been deprived of access to education were now in school.

President Mahama also said 10,000 locally made school sandals had been distributed freely to pupils in some deprived schools in the country.

He also spoke about the proposed university in the Eastern Region and said it was on course.

Roads
On road projects, he gave a regional breakdown with the mentioning of each of them receiving wild cheers from the Majority.

Some of the many notable road projects he mentioned were the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, the Kasoa Interchange and the Eastern Corridor road.

Health

President Mahama took time to explain the progress made in the health sector and said that had contributed to the increase in life expectancy among Ghanaians.

“At independence, our life expectancy was a little over 40 years, but today life expectancy has increased by more than 14 years,” he said.

Not only did he say Ghanaians were living longer but also indicated that “more infants are living to see those years, too”.

“According to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, there has been a drastic decrease in the rates of infant mortality and under-five mortality. Over the last decade, under-five mortality decreased from 111 to 60 per 1,000 live births.

“Infant mortality dropped by almost 30 per cent from 64 to 41 per 1,000 live births over the same period. The mothers of these children are also surviving during pregnancies and after childbirth because antenatal and post-natal care has improved,” he said

Even as the government continued to improve health infrastructure, the President said, emphasis would also be placed on preventive health care for the treatment of chronic and non-communicable diseases.

“We are poised to invest heavily in education and preventive health care for the treatment of chronic and non-communicable diseases due to lifestyle choice diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.

“The investment in preventive health is even more prudent, as our nutritional habits continue to change. The double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases raises even more fundamental questions about sustainable healthcare financing,” he added.

On health infrastructure, he mentioned, among others, the Ridge Hospital, the Police Hospital, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and and the Tamale Hospital as beneficiaries of various project

President Mahama also touched on projects in the water sector in all parts of the country and said they were all a testament of the progress achieved by the government.

Elections

Touching on the general election, the President expressed confidence in the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct free and fair polls and called on the political parties to support the commission in that respect.

He stated that the EC had, over the years, gained worldwide recognition for its good work and there was no doubt that it would live up to the occasion again.

He also urged all players to play the game clean, saying, “Let the election be clean and devoid of insults.”
While recognising the great role the media played in election periods, he charged them to continue to be a good conduit for communicating messages.

Microfinance

President Mahama flayed the Bank of Ghana for the poor supervisory role that led to the crisis in the microfinance sector.

He called for action to prevent a recurrence.