The government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, through innovative ideas and carefully thought-through policies and programmes, achieved more in 16 months than the previous 8 years of the NDC, Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has declared.
Innovative programmes such as ‘Free Senior High School’ to remove the barrier of finance in the acquisition of Secondary education; ‘One Village One Dam’ and ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ to deal with the challenges in the agricultural sector; ‘One District One Factory’ to promote industrialisation, and the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to deal with the canker of corruption are just a few examples of the seminal initiatives of this government, Dr Bawumia insists.
The Vice President, who was speaking at various mosques during the Eastern Region leg of his nationwide Ramadan Tour on Sunday 20th May 2018, said the Akufo-Addo government had also done more for the Zongo community than any other government in Ghana’s history.
“We promised to pay closer attention to the developmental needs of the Zongos, and for the first time in the history of Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo has not only appointed a Minister for Inner City and Zongo Development Affairs but has set up a Zongo Development Fund and set aside budgetary allocation of GhC100 million for it. Just last week we appointed a CEO and two Deputies to run the Zongo Development Fund. This is evidence that when we make a promise we keep it,” Alhaji Dr Bawumia emphasised.
“To ensure that our children receive both English and Arabic education, about 3,000 Arabic instructors will be engaged this year” he added.
Faced with the challenge of graduate unemployment, the Akufo-Addo government again thought out of the box and has launched the Nation Builders Corps to offer the opportunity of acquiring skills and experience to 100,000 graduates this year in seven different modules, the Vice President indicated.
“At least 350 graduates will be engaged in each district and they will be on the module for three years during which they will receive training and still get paid. That is the result of critical thinking, to solve the challenges Ghana faces, not critical thinking to find ways to deprive the ordinary citizen of the benefits of being a Ghanaian, what the court described as create, loot and share.
“We will not create, loot and share, that is why we have reduced electricity tariffs, 30% for industry and 17.5% for households. That is a sign of a government that cares about its citizens, and not one that will put its citizens through hardship while they enrich themselves.”