General News of Thursday, 18 August 2016

Source: starrfmonline.com

We'll avoid another election petition - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama President John Dramani Mahama

President John Mahama continues to hype his performance since assuming the reigns of the country, saying even a whole year of "counting pink sheets" could not jeopardize his plans for the country.

But for the New Patriotic Party’s election petition, he added, his government would have achieved more than it has done.

Addressing chiefs and residents of Aboadze after inspecting the Shama and Aboadze sea defence project, President Mahama said “When I took over in 2013 our friends took us to the court over the 2012 election [and] almost the entire first year was wasted” and that stalled the development of the country.

“They were there counting pink sheets, we counted pink sheets for almost a year. Despite that we were able to undertake a lot of projects. This means we could have done more.”

He said his government had constructed roads, schools, water expansion projects and hospitals across the length and breadth of the country, and that if Ghanaians refer to the National Democratic Congress’ Green Book, they “will notice that within these four years, we have done well. It is not even four years, but three years.”

On the forthcoming elections, he said the NDC is going all out for a resounding one-touch victory in order to ensure that “they [NPP] wouldn’t think of going to court.”

But the acting General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party John Boadu has called on Ghanaians to vote out the Mahama-led administration, saying the country cannot endure another four years under his “reckless” governance.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s head office Wednesday, Boadu alleged that Ghana has backslided in the last eight years with the current administration squandering the resources that could have been used to turn the fortunes of the country around.

“Ghana today is worse than Ghana in 2012, Ghana in 2012 was worse than 2008, it has been eight years of backsliding, of wasted opportunities and squandered resources. Will Ghanaians want to give NDC 12 consecutive years in office?

“Today in Ghana, government borrows money not to build but to pay off debts, today in Ghana; Ghanaians are taxed and taxed so government funds reckless spending...No country in the world has caused such a disastrous figure,” Boadu said.