A year into Akufo-Addo’s administration; 5 major ‘achievements’ so far

Today January 7, 2018 marks exactly a year President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was sworn into office as the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Office at the Independence square in Accra.

Though a year in office, the government claims to have chalked several successes just under a year in fulfilment of its 2016 campaign promises despite contrary views of from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) prior to the 2016 elections made a litany of campaign promises to the Ghanaian populace with a promise to transform the economy from independent from foreign aid.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo himself has on countless occasions trumpeted the resolve of his government to use resources of the country to facilitate development indicating among other things the introduction of various pro-poor policies to ameliorate the suffering of the citizens implemented by the previous administration.

Mynewsgh.com, takes a critical look at four major policies and pogrammes implemented by the current government under its 12-month administration on its path to economic recovery it tagged as its ‘achievements’

Free SHS

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in September this year, started off with the introduction of the free SHS flagship programme which was one of its major campaign tools in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 campaign promises to Ghanaians.

Government indicates that about 400,000 students from Junior High Schools across the country are expected to benefit from the project which will cost $10 Million dollars out of which 25% has been paid into respective accounts of implementing schools.

Restoration of nursing trainee allowance

A week ago, the hitherto scrapped nursing trainee allowance by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration was restored by the current government which was also major campaign tool.

According to the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Nsiah Asare, the restoration of the nursing trainees allowance is to ease the untold hardship on trainee nurses and midwives who depend on it for their studies and welfare.

“The allowance is not meant for lavish spending but rather it is to be used to ease financial burden on beneficiaries. Use the money to buy books and other materials to study and pass your examination”, he advised nursing trainees in public institutions to use their allowance judiciously.

Paperless policy at the ports

As part of measures in increasing revenue generation in the country as well as plug all leakages, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia proposed the paperless system at the ports which has since been implemented.

During the first week after its implementation, Dr Bawumia claimed that an initial assessment of the implementation of the paperless system at the country’s ports, has shown a revenue collection improvement of 56 percent.

According to him, revenue at the ports increased from GHc130 million in the first week of September 2016, to GHc213 million in the same period for 2017.

Digital Property Addressing System

On Wednesday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the Digital Property Addressing System also known as the Ghana Post GPS, has been launched with President Nana Akufo-Addo urging Ghanaians from various sectors to take advantage of it.

Speaking at the launch, President Akufo-Addo expressed the hope that this new address database will create an avenue for new businesses, and aid systematic revenue collection by the likes the Ghana Water Company and local government.

The President said he expected the relevant institutions to “liaise with the Ministry of Communication and Ghana Post, who are the custodians and administrators of the system, to leverage on this technology to enhance their operations.”

Scrapping of nuisance taxes

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Attain March last year announced government’s decision to abolish eight taxes and reduce four others, many of which were introduced by the previous government.

According to him, many of the taxes were nuisance taxes, the removal of which will ease the difficulties they imposed on Ghanaians.

He explained the measures will help drive the job creation agenda of government, lessen hardship of Ghanaians and secure a business-friendly environment in the country.