Former President John Dramani Mahama has said a decision taken by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to stop ongoing cocoa road projects after assuming office has resulted in many of the communities and cocoa growing areas being inaccessible or have very poor road networks.

He said, during the launch of the NDC’s campaign ahead of the 2020 elections in Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North region on Wednesday, October 7, that the decision to cancel the projects was bad for Ghana.

The NDC's flagbearer said “This government has made no real effort to begin to create an economy that generates prosperity. There has been very little investment in innovation and creativity – the main drivers of prosperity. And we are still witnessing cases of institutional failure.

“To create sustainable and ever-growing prosperity – something we all deserve – it requires building a robust social and economic infrastructure, one that supports creativity, innovation and the production of high value-added products and service.

“The risk of becoming a country trapped in poverty is unfortunately boosted by the fact that while we are fighting hard to consolidate our status as a developing country, the advanced nations are in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, transitioning from a post-industrial world to the world of smart technology – and from a production-based economy to a knowledge-based economy.

“In simple words, the advanced world is moving in one direction, while we are still moving in the direction the world moved 20 or 30 years ago. If we keep moving in this direction, we will become less and less competitive on the global market. And this will condemn us to perpetual stagnation and backwardness. This might happen because our main vulnerability as a nation is a weak infrastructure.

“I have travelled around the country, deep into the hinterlands, meeting chiefs and interacting with communities and stakeholder groups. Over the last four days, I have been here in the Western North Region, and because President Nana Akufo-Addo decides to stop ongoing cocoa road projects, for example, many of our communities and cocoa growing areas are inaccessible or have very poor road networks.

“Many of these communities are also still without mobile network connectivity, denying the people, students, teachers and health workers access to call and internet services, in this age. This is precisely why, during my first term as President, I took aggressive steps to develop and consolidate our healthcare infrastructure, our educational infrastructure, our transport infrastructure and our digital infrastructure.

“This is the only way to build a resilient nation. Without creating and consolidating a developed infrastructure, no nation can prosper and resist global shocks, like the current COVID-19 pandemic.”