President Mahama was unconvincing : NPP
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described the issues raised by President John Mahama in his interaction with journalists last Tuesday as a rehash of old issues as well as unconvincing new ones.
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Touching on a wide range of issues that the President raised, the party said, “We remind Ghanaians that the NDC government's performance, in its eighth year, falls short not only of the expectations of Ghanaians, but falls short even by President Mahama’s own expectations as he had outlined in his first address to the nation on 18th August 2012.”
Youth employment
A statement signed by the Director of Communication, Nana Akomea, said the President’s admission that the country did not have the capacity to generate statistics on youth unemployment and was, therefore, collaborating with the World Bank which started work way back in 2007 was not good enough.
“It is a shame that in 2015, that collaboration has not been finished for the system and capacity to be in place for Ghana to be able to generate labour statistics.
“More importantly, the Mahama government’s attitude to youth employment is extremely disappointing. It is only in 2015, six years into this NDC administration, that President Mahama launched a National Employment Policy, and even that with no implementation/action plan.
“Youth employment has been left to chance. No wonder the greatest danger facing this country is the ever-worsening youth unemployment situation,” the statement said.
Teacher/nursing trainees
Touching on the teacher/nursing trainees, the statement said the President wanted Ghanaians to believe that the regular enrolment of nurses trained in public institutions suffered because of “a mix-up with privately trained nurses”.
The statement wondered how the mix-up had persisted for two years, leading to the nurses picketing at the Office of the President just two days ago.
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It said Nana Akufo-Addo promised to restore teacher trainee allowances, explaining that, “It can easily be done when leakages of the public purse, such as branding of public buses with the President’s picture is stopped.”
Microfinance
Concerning the microfinance saga, the statement said the President seemed to believe that the anguish over the microfinance issue, particularly in the Brong Ahafo Region, was as a result of opposition propaganda and incitement.
“The President is burying his head in the sand. The anguish and deep sorrow of the thousands of Ghanaians whose monies have been endangered by these microfinance institutions is real. The people genuinely believe that public institutions under the executive authority of the President, particularly the Bank of Ghana, have failed them.
“There is no opposition incitement of the people in this matter. It is an unnecessary insult for the President to imply that the pain and anguish of Ghanaians who are in danger of losing their saving is a manipulation and incitement by some political party,” the statement said.
Dumsor
Turning to the power crisis, the statement wondered what the President meant by his predecessors did not "fix it”.
“It is an insult for the President to imply that his predecessors didn’t provide permanent additions to generation capacity of the country.
“The Aboadze Plant facilitated by former President Rawlings is a permanent addition to national generation capacity. Former President Kufuor’s retrofit of Akosombo added at least 100MW to Akosombo’s capacity permanently.
“The West Africa Gas pipeline project, Sunon Asogli, Bui dam, etc. all added hundreds of megawatts permanently to Ghana’s generation capacity,” the statement added.
It said the issue with dumsor was not whether a solution was permanent or not.
“The real issue is that dumsor has persisted throughout John Mahama’s presidency, and that despite his numerous promises, he has failed to resolve it up to date,” it said.
Corruption
Touching on corruption, the statement said President Mahama seemed to be proud of his record on corruption, adding, “There is no bigger instance of him burying his head in the sand than this.”
It said the perception of corruption could not be due merely to increased media coverage as the President seemed to imply.
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“The issues of mind-boggling corruption that made possible the Woyome affair, the Waterville affair, GYEEDA, SADA, SUBAH, bus branding, etc, are real.
“It looks like the President believes that mere retrievals of corruptly paid public monies, without prosecution, is actually an achievement. Even here, the record is hollow. Only a fraction of GYEEDA money, for example, has been retrieved. Nothing has been retrieved from Woyome nor Waterville nor SUBAH nor SADA,” the statement said.
Guantanamo detainees
Referring to the two former Guantanamo detainees, the statement recalled that the President sought to assure Ghanaians that there had been no cash inducement and the basis for the decision included humanitarian grounds, Ghana’s friendship with the USA, and the fact that the two former detainees were never tried and never convicted.
It said there was still a major worry about that decision of President Mahama, stressing, “The President himself alluded to the hysteria and phobia in the Ghanaian public.”
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It said Ghana took in foreigners all the time, citing the establishment of a whole community for Liberian refugees, Fulani herdsmen roaming the countryside with abandon,
Nigerien/Chadian refugees still begging on the street corners and road intersections unmolested.
“So the widespread ‘hysteria and phobia’ (the words of the President) over the former Guantanamo detainees must be founded on genuine apprehension, especially since it does seem their own country, Yemen, was not prepared to take them in.
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