2020: Renew NPP’s mandate – Kufuor

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has charged Ghanaians to renew the mandate of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government when they go to the polls in December 2020 because, in his view, the NPP has performed well in its first three years of government.

“Any government that comes and does so well within three years, that government should be allowed to continue,” Mr Kufuor told Benjamin Akakpo on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Monday, 23 December 2019.

“Life is work in progress and nation-building is life so…next year is election year; please let’s be open-minded and pragmatic. There’s no perfect life, I don’t know any place on earth that can claim to have a perfect life, so, it’s a balancing act; we balance the positives against the negatives and if we do this practically and realistically, we will see that we’ve gotten a government whose mandate must be renewed, so, it continues,” the former Ghanaian leader stated.

Mr Kufuor reiterated his call that the four-year mandate given a government was insufficient, especially for a developing nation like Ghana. Despite that assertion, Mr Kufuor noted that the NPP has done well and should be allowed to continue to run the country.

“At the last change of my government in 2008, I said a four-year term for a developing country was too short…so, when you have a government that is performing as this government is performing, then you allow this government to continue and things will continue to improve.

“Now, the world is looking at Ghana as the hub for West Africa and if nothing good was happening, I’m sure the world would not see us as a hub for West Africa, so, let’s look ahead and let’s encourage this government to continue,” Mr Kufuor stressed.

He continued: “We certainly, must criticise but we must criticise more constructively and not criticise to destroy, no; if we do that, it will be at our own peril because this government is managing to salvage the macro economy. When you look at the framework of the economic management team, you will see that it is positive, in spite of the hardships…no doubt if you go to filling stations, petrol prices are going up. The banking sector or finance sector is undergoing some cleanup, but all these things add up to the good of the society…”

“This coming year is an election year and we must renew their mandate and I believe into the next tenure of this government; we’ll see many changes that definitely will qualify as progress and progress in development with freedom too.”