General News of Wednesday, 24 October 2018

Source: starrfmonline.com

Akufo-Addo nervous as popularity wanes – Africawatch

President Nana Akufo-Addo President Nana Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo’s popularity is waning due to his inability to deliver most of his campaign promises almost two years after he became President, a situation which has made him nervous and always on the defensive, controversial magazine Africawatch has stated.

According to the popular magazine, “uneasiness is thus increasing as more people are coming to grips with the stark fact that some of the key president’s campaign promises may not materialize at all, such as his plan to build one factory in each of the country’s 216 constituencies during his first term in office, a scheme he proudly called ‘One District, One Factory’”.

The magazine edited by Steve Mallory added that “though, many questioned where on earth the funds would come from for such an enormous undertaking, he promised at the time that it would alleviate poverty and create more jobs. None of it has happened.

“Hope in Akufo-Addo’s presidency is therefore turning into doubt and beginning to grow into disillusionment. This, naturally, is making the president become nervous and putting him on the defensive.”

According to Africawatch, the president keeps repeating at every turn, his only achievement to date – the free SHS – which the magazine says is in a mire.

“Even the implementation of the promised Free Senior High program has somehow been botched, because the government rushed it without any proper consultation and planning…now that his honesty is being called into question by some of the people who voted for him, Akufo-Addo is becoming increasingly unpopular. That has made him nervous and he has already started covertly scheming to bolster his chances for re-election in 2020.”

Africawatch in its report claims that Akufo-Addo will try to use his influence on Jean Mensa – EC Chairperson – to get the EC to use the Ghana Card to compile a new voters’ register for the 2020 elections, as he claims the current register is bloated with foreigners, mostly from Togo, who, it is believed, are more sympathetic to the NDC.

“There is nothing wrong with cleaning up a voters’ register…but it is quite dangerous for Akufo-Addo’s government to use the Ghana Card to undercut NDC strongholds and then turn around to have the EC use the Ghana Card as the basis for a new voters’ roll so that the NDC will not have the numbers to vote for them in future elections.”