Reject Mahama's 'goodies' - Nana Akufo-Addo

With two months to the December 7 polls, flagbearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has urged Ghanaians to be wary of the "unprincipled politics" of President John Mahama as Election Day nears.

Addressing a rally at Mallam Junction in the Weija/Gbawe constituency at the campaign launch of the NPP’s parliamentary nominee, Tina Mensah, on Sunday, October 2, 2016, Mr Akufo-Addo recounted how, over the last four years, the NPP had advocated the restoration of the scrapped nurse and teacher trainee allowances, with a pledge that if voted into office, an Akufo-Addo government will restore these allowances in full.

In response to Mr Akufo-Addo's pledge to restore the allowances, President Mahama, at a forum held at the University of Cape Coast, on September 7, 2016, stated that "for partisan political purposes, you have your political opponent come and say: 'When we come back, we will restore trainee allowances'. For me, it is better to lose the election on principle than win it on falsehood. We will not reverse the decision."

However, according to Mr Akufo-Addo, on Saturday, October 1, 2016, "he [President Mahama] was in the Volta Region and told the people that he has given an order, two months to the holding of the elections that, with immediate effect, nurse trainee allowances must be paid. Is this how a country is governed? With two months to the holding of the elections, he now sees the wisdom is restoring these allowances."

This, Mr Akufo-Addo said "is not the way that the Ghanaian people expect to be governed. They expect to be governed with truth and not with deception, with honesty and not with lies, with policies and not with propaganda."

Again, Nana Akufo-Addo recounted how, during his recent tour of the Central Region, he visited Moree, where the fisherfolk "told me of the immense hardships they were encountering, coupled with the unbearable costs of inputs for fishing. All the programmes implemented by President Kufuor, according to them, had collapsed, and were convinced that under an Akufo-Addo-led NPP government, the sector will thrive again."

The NPP flag bearer continued: "Within 24 hours of my departure from the Central Region, outboard motors and premix fuel were sent to Moree and distributed free-of-charge to the fisherfolk. It is clear that everywhere I go and I assure residents of an improvement in their living conditions, the next day, government sends goodies to those areas in order to sway them. The Ghanaian voter is discerning."

Nana Akufo-Addo urged the crowd not to be swayed by the "goodies" being brought to them by the NDC, but to remain steadfast and vote for him and the party’s parliamentary nominees.