“No second term for Mahama” - Akuffo-Addo

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says recent pronouncements by President Mahama demanding for a second-term in office is ample testimony that he has not read Ghana’s constitution.

In his recent “Accounting to the People” tour, President Mahama indicated that every President, in the 4th Republic era, has been given two-terms in office, going on to state that, had the late President Mills been alive he would have also been given 2-terms in office.

“Respectfully, I don’t think our President has read the Constitution. (If every President was guaranteed a second term), why then would we be going to the polls this year? If President Rawlings and President Kufuor had not performed well in office, in the view of Ghanaians, would they have been allowed to continue?” he asked

He continued, “When we look at your track-record in office and it is poor, the people of Ghana would kick you out. The case of Goodluck Jonathan is exactly the same as that of our President. Goodluck Jonathan only became President because his boss passed away. When it came to standing election for a 2nd term, the people of Nigeria decided that he was underserving of another term in office. There was no 2nd term for Jonathan. The same way in this year’s elections, I am confident that Ghanaians will say to Mahama ‘No 2nd term’”, especially when his party, the NDC, was in fact enjoying a second successive term in office.

Nana Akufo-Addo made this known on Friday, June 24, when he campaigned in the Bortianor/Ngleshie/Amanfro constituency, together with the NPP’s parliamentary candidate for the constituency, Alhaji Habib Saad, in the run-up to this year’s elections.

Too much stealing in government

At the Weija Old barrier taxi Rank, Bortianor, Tuba, Galilea market and at Amanfro, Nana indicated that the one of the reasons for the suffering and hardships currently facing Ghanaians is the widespread and rampant cases of the theft of public resources, and corruption in the government of President John Mahama.

According to him, state resources meant for the development of country, as well as the improvement of the living standards of Ghanaians, always find their way into the pockets of officials – the reason why there is little to show for the billions of dollars contracted in loans over the last 7 years.

Thus, the situation Ghana finds herself in under President Mahama requires nothing short of change if the country is to be returned onto the path of progress and prosperity, away from the despondency that has been imposed on Ghanaians.

With drivers, traders and fisherfolk lamenting about the difficulties they face with each passing day, in the form of high insurance premiums, high prices of petrol and premix fuel, to rising costs of living, they indicated to the NPP flagbearer that “there used to be a time when we used to make money in this station, and that was under the NPP.”

Addressing the gathering, Nana Akufo-Addo noted that, in addition to the wanton theft of state resources, the mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy is another reason for the hardship and suffering.

Thus, when voted into office, he told the hundreds gathered at the terminal that he is coming to ensure the prudent management of public resources, and will also institute measures to root out corruption and theft of public funds.

To the teeming numbers of young men and women who have lost hope in the ability of Ghana to offer them a decent livelihood, Nana Akufo-Addo urged them not to despair, adding that, with the right leadership and the correct policies, Ghana’s dwindling fortunes can be reversed.