I won’t let Ghanaians down - Akufo-Addo

Ghana’s President-elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated his commitment towards fulfilling the pledges he made during the electioneering, stressing that they were not mere campaign or platform talk aimed at winning votes.

At courtesy call on the Western Regional House of Chiefs on Tuesday, December 27, 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo noted that “I am aware of the high expectations that the Ghanaian people have reposed in me and my party, and I want you to know that I will not let you down.”

In doing so, the President-Elect reassured that the important commitments to the nation, and to the Western Region, for that matter, are going to be fulfilled.

“They were not platform or campaign talk. They were full commitments that we have made. We are going to relocate the headquarters of the GNPC to this region. We are going to leverage the monies that you bring to the national exchequer, especially from the oil, to rehabilitate and complete the eastern and western railway lines.”

Nana Akufo-Addo continued, “I committed myself and my government to the creation of a new region in this ‘vast’ region, which, for the time being, we are calling the Western-North. That commitment is high on the list of priorities of my government.”

Towards fulfilling this commitment, the President-Elect indicated that by the time the next District Assembly and Unit Committee elections are held in 2018, all the constitutional and legal procedures involved in the creation of the Western-North region would have taken place.

To this end, Nana Akufo-Addo appealed for the full support of the Chiefs and people of the Western Region, stating that “I will call on each and every one of you to ensure that the creation of this region, which has been on the drawing table for years, comes into fruition, so we can rapidly develop this region and improve the standards of living of the people.”

On the creation of jobs for the youth of the region, Nana Akufo-Addo assured that “1-District-1-Factory policy is going to happen live”. In addition to this, the “modernisation of the Takoradi Harbour, which we are committed to doing (in our manifesto), is going to be done.”

He also assured the Chiefs and people of the Western Region of the construction of an Accident and Emergency Centre in Takoradi.

“For all of this to happen, I am going to continue to need your support, physical and spiritual. Continue to pray for me and the young man who is going to be in charge of the management of the national economy, Mahamudu Bawumia. He has a big task on his young shoulders. But, I am very confident that he is going to do an excellent job,” he said

The President-Elect continued, “In two or three years’ time when they talk about the countries that are prospering, and the economies that are expanding and creating jobs, Ghana is going to be right up there.”

Nana Akufo-Addo also thanked the Chiefs and people of the region for the tremendous show of support for the NPP, resulting in the NPP increasing its vote share from some 43% in 2012 to 52% in 2016, and also an increase in the seats the party held in the region in parliament – from 8 in 2012 to 16 this year, with the party still contesting the results in the Juaboso and Suaman constituencies.