Opinions of Thursday, 6 February 2020

Columnist: Stephen Atta Owusu

If elections were held today, will Nana Addo continue to be president?

President Akufo-Addo President Akufo-Addo

Upon assumption of office, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his government put in place a programme of economic recovery since they came to meet a weak economy created by the ex-president John Dramani Mahama and his NDC. National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was weakened and it was gradually turning into Cash and Carry. Electricity supply was in poor shape and debts owed by the government both local and foreign were enormous.

Loans owed to IMF was the unkindest cut of all. As part of the loan conditionalities, the government was compelled to put a halt on employment to graduates, civil servants and all those who were ready to work. There were general poverty and hardship and many could not afford to send their children to high schools. During the first year, Nana Addo made sure all loans to IMF were paid so that Ghanaians can now be employed.

The economic recovery has been very successful and according to the president, the programme addressed the key phenomena that needed to be addressed, like the rate of growth of the economy, the expansion of employment and other economic activities.

On assumption of office, Nana Addo's main ambition was to widen the tax network, lower taxes and in certain situations, the tax was abolished. This happened in the case of 'kayayoos.' Levies imposed on them were abolished by the NPP government and excise duty on petroleum products were lifted. The government went further to reduce National Electrification scheme levy from 5% to 3%. Nana Addo and NPP's focus on economic policy on taxation and production did not end there. Nana Addo continued to score more achievement.

The NPP government made it a priority to encourage Ghanaians to take farming seriously. Many joined in and the government supported the farmers with fertilisers and herbicides. Food was produced in abundance and Ghanaians were able to buy food at lower cost. Nana Addo turned his attention to the fishing industry. The government did everything to ensure that pre-mix fuel is made available to all fishermen.

During his campaign to become president, Nana Addo consistently and repeatedly announced to the electorates that when they vote him into power he will start a free Senior High school. It was packaged so well to include no admission fee, no library fee, no science centre fee, no computer lab fee, no examination fee and no utility fees. All students will receive free text books, free boarding, free tuition and free meals. Day students will get free meal at school.

Agricultural, vocational and technical institutions at senior high schools are enjoying free SHS. Nana Addo also restored the nursing and teacher trainee allowance which was scrapped by the Mahama government. About 58,000 nurses and midwives enjoyed this, with GHc400 going to every trainee every month. May Ghanaians are of the view that the free SHS alone and the trainee allowance can easily pthe ropel Nana Addo and NPP to victory in 2020.

National Digital Property Addressing System (NDPAS) has been one of the achievements of the NPP government. Nana Addo launched the system coded "ghanapostGPS" as a move to realise the vision of formalizing the Ghanaian economy, and in accordance with the promise, Nana Addo made to Ghanaians during his political campaign in 2016.

With the address system, uber taxis are able to locate their clients through GPS navigator. Also to be able to acquire a new Ghana identity card, the requirement is the digital address of where you live. The system has come to stay and with time every Ghanaian will learn how to generate the address from their mobile phones.

One of the projects which the opposition thought would not be possible was "one district one factory" project. Nana Addo and NPP were eager to prove them wrong.From the onset, Nana Addo's ambition was to drive industrilisation across the country. He therefore inaugurated the government's one district one factory project. So far 173 factories are ready to be rolled out as part of Nana Addo's initiative. Some of hese factories were initiated by private businessmen with the support from government. In the end these projects will mark a giant step towards the fulfilment of promise made by Nana Addo and NPP during the 2016 campaign elections.

The following are some of the factories. They include a pineapple processing factory in the Ekumfi district. There is also another pineapple and orange processing factory at Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) municipality, a cassava starch processing factory at Fanteakwa district, a cashew processing factory at Tema, a fruit processing factory at West Akim district, a sheabutter processing factory in the Accra metropolis. The list is endless!

Indeed Nana Addo created job opportunties for more than 200,000 unemployed,, people including graduates and nurses. The nurses marched to the Jubliee house to express, their gratitude to Nana Addo.

For all his achievements during the past three years, there is no doubt that Ghanaians will vote massively for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.

Author: Dark Faces at Crossroads

Email: stephen.owusu@email.com