The Better Ghana Agenda is Already a Failure: Akufo-Addo

4th July, 2010:- The 2008 presidential candidate of the NPP and the lead contender in the upcoming August 7 primaries of the party, Nana Akufo-Addo has declared that “the NDC’s better Ghana agenda that they promised Ghanaians is already a failure.”

He noted that “every single promise that candidate Mills made to the good people of this country, President Mills has failed to honour them. He promised to reduce the prices of goods and services, kerosene, petrol, electricity, water, fertilizer, etc, but on the contrary, every single commodity has been going up and up in price since he became president.”

Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking at the Conference Hall of the Radash Memorial Hotel, Tamale, where he and his Victory 2012 Campaign Team met with NPP delegates of the Tamale North, South and Central constituencies to sell their message of hope to them.

He asked the delegates whether the better Ghana that President Mills and his NDC promised them during the campaign has reached Tamale and when the crowd shouted a big no, he said “everywhere I have been to, the better Ghana has not reached there. I have been to almost everywhere in our country and the better Ghana has not started anywhere. So where at all is this better Ghana?” he asked.

“The NDC and candidate Mills said during the campaign that life was unbearable for the Ghanaian under the NPP because we were insensitive to the plights of the people and that when they won power, they will build a better Ghana. Today, President Mills’ NDC government is gradually collapsing all the pro-poor policies that the NPP put in place to cushion the poor in society”, he remarked.

“The National Health Insurance Scheme, they are killing it, the School feeding program, the National Youth Employment Program and all other ones that we set up to support the Ghanaian people, the NDC are collapsing them.”

“Today it is obvious that we have given power to a group of people who have no idea how to improve the lives of the Ghanaian people and that is why I say that not everyone can be sent to the presidency. The P/NDC was in power for 19 years and could not find even a single bucket of oil. Eight years of president Kufuor and the NPP, Ghana has struck oil in commercial quantities that will be explored to support our country’s future.”

“We have to let all of Ghana know that our party is the one that has the policies, programs and solutions to the problems of our country,” he remarked.

“I said during the campaign that one of the biggest problems facing our country is the development gap between the North and the South and I promised that as president, I will set up a Northern Development Authority, and a Northern Development Fund with a billion Dollars seed money to help bridge the development gap between the North and South and thus help our brothers and sisters here in the North live a dignified life without having to travel all the way to the South looking for jobs. The NDC quickly copied the idea and also promised to set up a Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).”

“But since they won power, 18 months ago, have you heard anything about this SADA? They are just sitting in Accra, holding meetings and just talking and talking.”

“I want to send a message to President Mills and the NDC that the time for talking and talking in Ghana is over. It is time for action in our country, and if you give me the nod, and we win power back in 2012, I am going to set up the Northern Development Fund, to help bridge this development gap”, he remarked.

“I still stand by my promise to make Senior High School education free, to increase the School Feeding Program from two schools a district to all schools in all districts in our country and to increase the National Youth Employment Program from the 147,000 people to 500,000 people”, he added. Also part of Nana Akufo-Addo’s entourage is the former Interior Minister, Hon. Malik Alhassan Yakubu, former Northern Regional Minister, Mustapha Ali Iddris, and MP for Navrongo Central, Mr. Kofi Adda who have been touring the Northern region with the Victory 2012 team.