Alleged Unfulfilled Electoral Promises

AS OPPOSITION parties get ready to launch a deadly campaign against the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), using the message of unfulfilled campaign promises of the NPP as their main trump card, a staunch supporter of the ruling party, Mr. Yaw Boateng, says the NPP could not be blamed for any unfulfilled promises.

As far as the NPP man was concerned, if there was any disappointment on the part of Ghanaians with regards to any unfulfilled electoral promises by the ruling party, the blame should be put squarely at the doorsteps of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its allied financial institutions, not the NPP.

Mr. Boateng explained that when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was in power, the IMF and its allies praised it for its good economic performance.

These praises, he noted, had the effect of inducing political parties that were contesting for political power in the year 2000, to offer Ghanaians, sweet promises of a better life when given the mandate to steer the affairs of this country.

In a statement made available to The Chronicle, the NPP activist continued that it was when the current government assumed power that it realized that all the praises of the IMF showered on the then NDC were only meant to deceive Ghanaians to achieve its selfish interest to the utter detriment of Ghana as a nation.

Boateng opined that, given the situation at the time, a political party that failed to make good some of its electoral promises might be excused because as he noted, any reasonable organization at the time would have believed the words of the IMF and its allies.

"Indeed, some ministers in the NDC government, knowing very well the economic situation that their government was going to bequeath to the NPP government, stated categorically after the 2000 elections that the NPP would not be able to make good its campaign promises," Boateng said.

He argued that several reasons could be advanced to explain why the Convention People's Party of the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was often thought to have done better in its nine-year rule of this country.

The CPP government, he observed, inherited huge financial resources with a comparatively smaller population and this was the main reason why the CPP could do better.

"Our situation has drastically changed since 1957, and this makes it absolutely impossible for us to revisit the days of Nkrumah. In other words, we cannot afford to be hard-line socialists. Besides, Nkrumah himself appreciated the importance of the private sector in the management of the economy- a principle that the NPP upholds," the outspoken politician stressed.

Boateng noted that the NPP government was gradually pursuing its avowed economic policy of invigorating the private sector to make it the engine of growth.

Through this gradual approach, he continued, the government would fulfill its electoral promise of enough job and wealth creation.

He described as sad, assertions from opposition elements that the NPP's campaign slogan of positive change was a hollow promise.

This, he said, was because people who were of the said opinion, had persistently failed to take into account the numerous positive changes that had occurred on account of the good policies the current government had pursued within the last three years.

"But for the deceit of the IMF and its allies through the support of the NDC government, the NPP would have done better than it has been able to do so far. But comparing the achievements of the NPP for the last three years with that of the 19 years of the PNDC/NDC, it is only people who are not realistic who will appeal to Ghanaians to reject the current government for failing to perform," he stated.

While acknowledging the fact that the NPP had not been able to fulfill all its campaign promises, he challenged the opposition fraternity to always tell the people of this country, what they could have done within three years, to turn the nation into a paradise rather than always criticize the government unduly.