Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has responded to former President, John Dramani Mahama over recent promises made by the latter.
While outdooring his running mate ahead of the 2020 polls, on Monday, July 27, 2020, John Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, among other things promised to pay all persons whose monies have been locked up following the revocation of licenses of some financial institutions in the country.
He said the payments will be made within his first year should he be given the nod in the elections.
“I pledge on behalf of the NDC that we shall within one year of being in office pay all funds that have been locked up with the collapsed financial institutions. Within our first year in office, we shall pay all the beneficiaries all funds locked up in the collapsed financial institutions and its a promise. We shall not put together any long term payment plan that will further worsen the living conditions of the victim,” Mahama promised.
Mahama also promised to set up a financial services authority to forestall any future banking sector crisis.
John Mahama also took a swipe at the governing New Patriotic Party saying Akufo-Addo’s tenure has been characterised by corruption, nepotism, job losses among others.
Meanwhile, Vice President, Dr. Bawumia has taken on Mr. Mahama in a write-up released on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.
Dr. Bawumia said the 2020 polls will be about the performance of both leading presidential candidates and not promises.
“The choice Ghanaians face on December 7th is between John Mahama and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Thankfully, both of them have records. John Mahama was Vice President and President for 8 years and Nana Akufo-Addo has been the president for three and a half years.”
“It is not about what you say in opposition. It is about what you did in government. What matters ultimately to Ghanaians is how these two leaders were able to manage the economy and alleviate the suffering of the people when they were given the opportunity to serve.”
Dr. Bawumia insisted that President Akufo-Addo has performed better and Ghanaians can continue to trust and rely on his strong and compassionate leadership for another four years.
“On the basis of the performance record, the leadership of this country by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has resulted in much better outcomes than the disastrous outcomes under the leadership of John Mahama. Going forward, we can continue to trust and rely on Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s strong and compassionate leadership in the next four years,” he further added.
Below is the full writeup by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
NANA AKUFO-ADDO HAS PERFORMED BETTER
The choice Ghanaians face on December 7th is between John Mahama and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Thankfully, both of them have records. John Mahama was Vice President and President for 8 years and Nana Akufo-Addo has been the president for three and half years.
It is not about what you say in opposition. It is about what you did in government. What matters ultimately to Ghanaians is how these two leaders were able to manage the economy and alleviate the suffering of the people when they were given the opportunity to serve.
1. John Mahama presided over a decline in economic growth for his four years in office while Nana Akufo-Addo has presided over higher economic growth in his first three years in office before the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. John Mahama presided over a decline in agriculture. Nana Akufo-Addo increased agricultural output and Ghana is currently exporting many food items as a result of the planting for food and jobs initiative.
3. John Mahama presided over low industrial growth during his four years in office. Nana Akufo-Addo has increased industrial growth and building and reviving many factories under IDIF, etc..
4. John Mahama presided over higher inflation. Nana Akufo-Addo has reduced inflation
5. John Mahama presided over higher bank lending rates. Bank lending rates have reduced under Nana Akufo-Addo.
6. John Mahama presided over high exchange rate depreciation. Under Nana Akufo-Addo the depreciation of the cedi has been reduced by 50%.
7. Under John Mahama, many taxes were increased. Nana Akufo-Addo has abolished 15 taxes including excise duty on petroleum, VAT on financial services, real estate, domestic airline tickets, etc.
8. John Mahama increased import duties. Nana Akufo-Addo has reduced import duties by between 30% and 50%.
9. John Mahama presided over a moribund railway system. Nana Akufo-Addo has revived the railway sector.
10. As a result of economic mismanagement, John Mahama took us to the IMF for a bailout and Nana Akufo-Addo successfully exited Ghana from the IMF program.
11. John Mahama increased electricity tariffs by 45% annually. Nana Akufo-Addo has reduced electricity tariffs.
12. John Mahama presided over four years of dumsor. Nana Akufo-Addo has kept the lights on.
13. John Mahama did not provide any relief and even increased electricity prices during dumsor. Nana Akufo-Addo has provided free electricity for lifeline consumers and free water to all for 6 months during COVID-19
14. John Mahama presided over a collapsing national ambulance system. Nana Akufo-Addo has implemented one constituency one ambulance and revived the national ambulance system.
15. John Mahama presided over massive graduate unemployment. Nana Akufo-Addo has created jobs for graduates in the private and public sectors including the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO).
16. Under John Mahama , public sector recruitment was frozen in many departments. Nana Akufo-Addo has unfrozen public sector recruitment and hired over 550,000 people.
17. Under John Mahama , fees were charged for post graduate medical training in Ghana. Nana Akufo-Addo abolished the fees for post graduate medical training
18. John Mahama did not fulfill his promise to increase the share of the DACF to persons with disabilities by 50%. Nana Akufo-Addo increased the share of the DACF to PWDs by 50%
19. Under John Mahama, Kayayei were charged daily market tolls. Nana Akufo-Addo abolished market tolls for kayayei.
20. John Mahama abolished teacher training allowances. Nana Akufo-Addo restored Teacher Training Allowances
21. John Mahama abolished Nursing Training Allowances. Nana Akufo-Addo restored Nursing Training Allowances.
22. John Mahama abolished Arabic teachers allowances. Nana Akufo-Addo restored Arabic teachers allowances.
23. Under John Mahama, tertiary students paid utility bills. Nana Akufo-Addo abolished the payment of utility bills by students.
24. Under John Mahama, the capitation grant was not increased. Nana Akufo-Addo doubled the capitation grant.
25. John Mahama implemented a 3-month arrears policy for teachers who had worked for 2-3 years. Nana Akufo-Addo abolished the 3-month arrears policy.
26. John Mahama’s government was not paying teachers promotion arrears. Nana Akufo-Addo’s government has paid teachers promotion arrears
27. Under John, Mahama parents paid for the cost of BECE and WASSCE exam registrations. Under Nana Akufo-Addo, government absorbed the cost of BECE and WASSCE exam registrations
28. John Mahama could not implement the National ID Card. Nana Akufo-Addo has implemented the National ID Card
29. John Mahama could not implement a comprehensive address system for Ghana. Nana Akufo-Addo has implemented the National Digital Property Address System for Ghana
30. John Mahama presided over a manual passport application process. Nana Akufo-Addo has digitized the passport application process.
31. John Mahama presided over a manual births and deaths registry application process. Nana Akufo-Addo is digitizing all the records at the Births and Deaths registry and digitizing the operations.
32. John Mahama presided over a manual drivers and vehicles license application process. Nana Akufo-Addo has digitized the DVLA application process.
33. John Mahama presided over a manual hospital administration system. Nana Akufo-Addo is digitizing the hospital administration with Korle Bu and Cape Coast hospitals going paperless.
34. John Mahama presided over a manual court administration system. Under Nana Akufo-Addo the court administration system has been digitized through an e-justice system with online filing processes, electronic case tracking, and electronic case distribution.
35. John Mahama presided over a bureaucratic process and delays in pensioners obtaining pensions from SSNIT. Under Nana Akufo-Addo the process has been streamlined and expedited with no hassle for pensioners.
36. John Mahama presided over a manual process of buying credit from ECG. Under Nana Akufo-Addo, it is easier to buy electricity through the ECG mobile App being used by 2.8 million customers.
37. JM presided over a manual scholarships application process. Under Nana Akufo-Addo the scholarship application process has been digitized and have awarded 70% more scholarships!.
38. John Mahama presided over a system with no mobile money interoperability. Nana Akufo-Addo introduced mobile money interoperability to facilitate mobile payments across networks and practically give almost every Ghanaian a bank account either through mobile money or traditional bank account.
39. John Mahama presided over a collapsing NHIS with over 12 months arrears to NHIS service providers. Nana Akufo-Addo has rescued the NHIS and reduced the arrears to the normal 3 months.
40. John Mahama presided over a system where people had to queue and wait for days to renew their NHIS membership. Nana Akufo-Addo has made it easier for the renewal of NHIS membership through mobile phones
41. John Mahama presided over a manual process of clearing goods at the ports. Nana Akufo-Addo has introduced a paperless process at the ports and reduced clearing time.
42. John Mahama did not get the Right to Information bill passed into law. Nana Akufo-Addo has with the support of Parliament, passed the Right to Information Act.
43. John Mahama starved the anti-corruption institutions of resources. Nana Akufo-Addo has significantly increased the resources to the anti-corruption institutions like CHRAJ, EOCO, Auditor General, etc.
44. John Mahama had no policy to address the needs of Zongo and Inner city communities. Nana Akufo-Addo has established the Zongo Development Fund and the Ministry for Inner City and Zongo Development which are addressing the needs of zongo and inner city communities.
45. John Mahama largely ignored the infrastructure needs of rural and deprived communities across the country. Nana Akufo-Addo’s government has invested massively in infrastructure for rural and deprived communities as well as urban communities.
46. John Mahama could not resolve the long standing chieftaincy dispute in Dagbon. Nana Akufo-Addo’s government promised to and has resolved the dispute and brough peace to Dagbon.
47. John Mahama promised but failed to create new regions. Nana Akufo-Addo promised to and created six new regions to deepen decentralization.
48. John Mahama could not implement Free TVET. Nana Akufo-Addo has implemented Free TVET.
49. John Mahama could not implement Free SHS. Nana Akufo-Addo promised to and has implemented Free SHS. 1.2 million children have benefited, many girls and boys have been taken off the street, parents have been relieved of the burden of school fees.
50. John Mahama presided over a mismanaged and collapsing financial system. 82 licensed financial institutions (listed below) collapsed under JM’s watch (were they deliberately collapsed by his government?) and the depositors were not paid. Nana Akufo-Addo on the other hand has rescued the financial system and spent GHC 21 billion to save the deposits of 4.6 million depositors who would otherwise have lost their savings. DKM depositors will also be paid.
On the basis of the performance record, the leadership of this country by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has resulted in much better outcomes than the disastrous outcomes under the leadership of John Mahama. Going forward, we can continue to trust and rely on Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s strong and compassionate leadership in the next four years.
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Jacob Ngarivhume, who called for the July 31 street demonstrations with support from the main opposition party, was arrested together with freelance journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and charged with inciting the public to commit violence.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) on Friday approved a $69 million grant to support Ghana’s efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and mitigate its socio-economic impact on the nation.
The program also aims to increase the percentage of the population tested from one percent to three percent by the end of December 2020, boost the number of points of entry reporting suspected cases of Covid-19 from 1 to 14 by the end of September 2020, and increase designated treatment centers with adequate intensive care facilities to 100% by end December 2020.
