NDC says laid solid foundation for development

Accra, Aug. 21, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday said the "marginal gains" of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) were due to the solid socio-economic structure that was handed over to it in 2001.

The NDC said in spite of "covertly" adopting its solid socio-economic policies, those of the government had been without the corrective measures that the NDC had initiated to help low-income workers and households. This is contained in a document titled: "Ghana: Economic and Social Foundations for Stability and Growth," made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday.

The document, according to the NDC, sought to debunk the NPP propagandist billboards erected nationwide trumpeting the "purported achievements" of the NPP government over the past eight years. It said the billboards credited the NPP as being solely responsible for the transformation of the economy without acknowledging the foundation which was laid by the NDC and the valuable contribution of the minority in parliament in checking the recklessness of the government.

The NDC, however, admitted that policies such as the change of currency were painful but explained that the overall monetary and financial policies of the government must be judged by their eventual effectiveness.

According to the party, its biggest achievement was restoration of the pride of Ghanaian citizenship through "human-centred policies" that ensured the voluntary return of nationals from abroad. The party accused the NPP government of dumping the Vision 2020 Agenda prepared by the NDC in 1994, saying this had contributed to the retardation in the growth and progress of the economy. It said: "Ghana would have made better progress, had the NPP maintained or at worst reviewed the Vision 2020 policy as a national and not a partisan document."