Mahama: Gov’t’s achievement not based on infrastructure

President John Mahama, who is gasping for breath in his desperate bid to hold on to power at the December 7 polls, has been touting infrastructural development as his major achievement in government.

The president, however, seems to have forgotten his position on infrastructural development which he forcefully articulated during the 2008 electioneering campaign, as then vice presidential candidate of the NDC.

According to President Mahama, a government’s achievement is not measured in terms of the quantum of infrastructural development undertaken, and that it is petty for a government to base its achievement on infrastructure.

“I think that’s petty and is stuck in the kind of past mentality that we have had: that a government’s achievement is based on the infrastructure that it provides. Yes, government is supposed to provide infrastructure. But every government adds onto the infrastructure,” he said.

He continued, “And any government that succeeds Kufuor will add on to the wonderful infrastructure that he’s put in place. A person would be an ostrich to say that President Kufuor has not achieved anything. He has achieved significantly in infrastructure. But what I say is if President Rawlings did not build the road from Makola to Tetteh Quarshie, President Kufuor would not have been able to build the road from Tetteh Quarshie to Mamfe. He would have had to go and start from Makola.”

According to President Mahama, a government’s achievement is rather measured in terms of how much it manages to meet the wishes and aspirations of the people. “I think it’s about more than that [provision of infrastructure]. It’s about what the wishes and aspirations of the people of this country are, you know, going forward," he said.