“We Lost Our Way as a Country under the NDC” NPP Activist declares.

Mr Alhassan Yakubu Tali, National Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party in Germany has stated that Ghana as a country lost its way following the election of NDC and the Mills-Mahama administration into office in 2009 adding that much of the progress made by the NPP government under President Kuffour have been rolled back due to incompetence and mismanagement.

Speaking at a rally in Beliefeld over the week as part of a nation-wide campaign programme code named ‘Recapture Power and Rebuild Ghana’ Mr Yakubu Tali pointed out that the December 7 elections is about putting an end to the damage that has been done to the economy, education, the health service, Ghana’s international reputation and sense of unity as one people.

On the economy, the 42 year-old Investment Banker said the so called single digit inflation being touted as ‘unprecedented’ achievement by the visionless Mills-Mahama administration does not reflect in the lives of the vast majority of Ghanaians stressing that single digit inflation should lead to a reduction in the cost of living, bring down interest rates and stabilize the exchange rate.

According despite the desperate but deliberate attempt by the failed Mills-Mahama administration to misinform and mislead Ghanaians, the reality on the ground is that the cost of living is rising on daily basis, interest rates are at all time high while the cedi continues to depreciate against major currencies and has now hit its lowest value in 18 years.

Using statistics to buttress his point Mr Yakubu Tali disclosed that a bag of maize which was sold at GHC 20 is now selling at GHC 150, an increase of 650%,while a bag of in 2008 cost GHC 33 now sells at GHC 95 representing an increase of 187%. The price for a bag of cement in 2008 was GHC 8.5 but builders now pay GHC 26 which is a 150% increase. Gari Olonka in 2008 was sold for GHC 1 but now costs GHC 2.8.

In the face of this economic crisis which has made life unbearable for most Ghanaians, it is irrational, politically dishonest and a clear display of ignorance about basic economics for the NDC to be talking about single digits inflation he added.

The vice-chairman explained that not only has the Mills-Mahama administration failed in managing the economy they have also embarked on so much borrowing that Ghana is likely to go back to the Highly Indebted Poor Countries(HIPC) status if the government continues on this reckless path. He expressed concern about the country’s growing external debt which has increased from $3.9 Billion in 2008 to $7.1 Billion in 2011 representing an increase of 82% while public debt went from GHC 9.6 Billion in 2008 to GHC 25.3 Billion (169%) in just three years.

He reminded Ghanaians that these astonishing figures indicate that the Mills-Mahama administration has borrowed more in three years than all previous governments in the last 52 years and said the question on the minds of most Ghanaians is where have all these monies gone? “Where is the money? He asked

On her part Mrs Christabell Koffie Deputy Director of Communications in Germany said all the social intervention programmes put in place by the NPP government under President Kuffour to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaians particularly women have all disappeared due to government neglect, corruption and mismanagement

Mrs Koffie told the cheering crowd that for the past three and half years the government of Professor Atta-Mills has not shown leadership that it is capable of managing the economy and this explains why the economy is in such a mess saying” the national health insurance scheme we handed to them has become dysfunctional, capitation grant has been scrapped, the school feeding programme is gradually dying off and the free maternal care is now a thing of the past under the watch of President Mills”.

She insisted that it was a mistake to have voted for the NDC in 2008, a mistake for which Ghanaians have paid dearly. She called on the Ghanaian electorate to vote the NPP and Nana Akuffo-Addo into power to enable him put his vision of providing free senior secondary education, modernizing the economy and creating jobs for the Ghanaian Youth into reality.

Kwaku Anane-Gyinde

Aachen-Germany