The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama, has expressed the party’s commitment to resetting various interventions and policies, when voted into power in the 2024 General Election, to address severe hardships faced by Ghanaians under the Akufo-Addo administration.
The former President said that the country was bleeding due to the bad policies of the current Akufo-Addo administration, saying, “Ghana’s soul is calling for change! Mother Ghana is calling for its true and genuine patriotic citizens to rise up to reset our beloved nation.”
Mr Mahama, who was speaking at the launch of the NDC’s manifesto in Winneba, in the Efutu Constituency of the Central Region on Saturday, said “Ghanaians can take no more of the hardship, the impunity, the state capture, the hypocrisy, the lies, and bad governance that has been inflicted on them over the two terms of this outgoing administration.”
The launch of the manifesto, which spells out the policies and programmes of the party for the country in the run-up to this year’s general election, was attended by senior figures and members of the party as well as traditional leaders and other dignitaries.
Former President Mahama alleged that the current administration had decimated the nation’s democracy beyond recognition, as the livelihood of families had been affected, with millions of people pushed beyond the poverty line.
He stated that a change in government would pave the way for the vision, experience, and trustworthiness to be restored by an NDC administration after the December presidential and parliamentary elections.
The NDC flagbearer noted that the current government had run aground a number of initiatives, and explained that the administration inherited a stabilisation fund that had accrued $277 million and the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund with seed money of $270 million.
Additionally, Former President Mahama indicated that the current administration inherited a stable currency that traded at GH¢4 to $1, inflation at 15.4 per cent, unemployment at 8.4 per cent, and debt as a percentage of GDP at 57 per cent.
He stated that a vote for the New Patriotic Party would be an expression of satisfaction with the impunity of the last eight years, saying, “A vote for the NPP is a vote for a third term for Nana Akufo-Addo. A vote for the NPP is a vote to escape accountability.”
The scorecard of the current administration, Mr Mahama indicated, had been abysmal, and called on Ghanaians to vote massively for the NDC in the December 7 elections, to change the course of the country.
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, WINNEBA