NPP's promise to transform Ghana to Brazil type economy is a deception- NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday said the New Patriotic Party’s talk of transforming Ghana into a Brazil type economy if voted into power in December 2012 was a typical strategy of employing plain deception and empty promises to deceive the public.

“Any political party can make a promise. Every candidate can mount a platform and make promises after promises. What is important is not the promise but the credibility and the track record of the party and the candidate making that promise.”

The party made this statement at a forum dubbed: “Setting the Record Straight” in Accra.

The forum was to touch upon the credibility of the promises that are being made in campaign messages and the need to look at the track record of those making such promises.

According to the NDC, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not have the track record, the capacity and the credibility to transform Ghana’s economy.

“Let’s assume that the NPP genuinely believes that they can turn Ghana into Brazil when given a four year mandate - have the NPP even bothered to find out how President Lula da Silva turned around the fortune of Brazil? Do they appreciate the aggressive investment in the transformation of the infrastructure of Brazil?” the NDC asked.

The party indicated that it took the NPP eight years to add 11 per cent to the total number of households connected to electricity, adding that the NDC was able to achieve 18 per cent of the number of households connected to electricity within three years.

The NDC said economic transformation should be anchored on the ability to find solutions to difficult economic problems, saying, “This capacity to meet and resolve difficult economic problems is what a government that can usher in economic transformation demonstrates”.

“The NDC has demonstrated that same capacity and competence in the way the party has met and resolved the huge deficit the NPP left behind in 2008, the almost four billion cedis arrears the NDC met and the hydra headed Single Spine Salary Scheme,” it said.

According to the party, it had been able to attain a single digit inflation and had maintained it for about 26 months, adding; “the NPP in eight long years could hardly attain and maintain inflation in single digit. We are in the days when all kinds of promises are being made, promises are easy to make.”

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, and the National Campaign Coordinator of the NDC, challenged the NPP to address the issues that directly confronted the country, adding; “It’s the NPP’s deliberate attempt to divert the public’s attention from the main issues, which is a sign of desperation.”

Mr. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Information, noted that this year’s election was about serious business and that the NDC would not engage in any politics of insult.