A Reminder of NDC's 25 Major "Achievements"

Even though the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has chalked several "successes" since it assumed the reigns of governance in January 2009, it seems the party's achievements have been overshadowed by the 2012 Election Petition.

Below is the list of 25 solid "achievements" of the party for your perusal.

1. The NDC administration has increased the salary of president Mahama from GHC5000 to GHC12,000, that of Members of Parliament from GHC3,600 to GHC7,200. No wonder, the meat is down to the bone.

2. The NDC has managed to rename most national monuments and policies. These include the Flagstaff House (formerly the Golden Jubilee House, the Accra Sports Stadium (formerly the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium), Atta Mills' Park (formerly Theodora Okoh Park), "Blue Police" (formerly "Yellow Police"), University of Energy and Natural Resources (formerly School of Forestry), University of Allied Sciences (formerly Ho Nurses' Training College), and LESDEP and later GYEEDA (formerly national youth employment programme).

3. The NDC government has reverted the senior high school (SHS) duration from 4 years to 3 years, though empirical evidence suggests that the 4 year system is far better than the 3 years.

4. They have made Ghana, a debt-free country by the payment of GHC858m judgement debts to our creditors, including GHC51.2 million to Alfred Woyome.

5. They have showed enough gratitude to Ghana's first president, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah by devoting GHC48m towards his birthday. This is beside the setting up of 21st September each year as a public holiday.

6. They have increased fuel prices and introduced new taxes to worsen the plight of Ghanaians. For instance, the price of a gallon of petrol has increased from GHC3.6 in 2008 to GHC10 in 2013, though the world market price of crude oil is far below $140 per barrel.

7. They have donated $3m to Haiti, $3m to Mali, and a wrist watch valued at $48,000 to Obama's wife.

8. They have strengthened their propaganda machinery to the extent of turning black sheep into white cows, throwing honesty and integrity to the dogs.

9. They have removed most beneficiary schools of the school feeding programme from certain areas to their strongholds without a single expansion to other needy communities. Remember, the NDC promised to extend the programme to all public and private basic schools during the 2008 electioneering campaign.

10. Their style of tribal politicking is superb. Check the number of his appointees and tell me whether there is just a single Brong or Ahafo in Mahama's Cabinet.

11. The NDC's supporters have chased people out of toll booths, vehicle terminals, market centres, offices of national health insurance authority, etc as a way of creating 1.6 million jobs. Today, any NDC supporter who can rain insults or cause trouble is employed.

12. The NDC under Mahama, has managed to buy the brains of not only Dr. Afari Gyan and his EC, but also Justices Atuguba, Adinyira, Akoto Bamfo, Baffoe-Bonnie, and Dotse with our oil money to rule the 2012 Election Petition in their favour.

13. They have disposed off Ghana International Airways since 2009, only to purchase 5 Military Jets for the Ghana Armed Forces. As of now, Ghana, which attained political independence over 56 years ago, does not boast of a single national courier for the 25m people.

14. They have succeeded in silencing pastors, Christians, political opponents, cocoa growers, Kumasi Residents, teachers, nurses, doctors, and Dr. Mensah Otabil by their political insults.

15. The distribution of school uniforms, and drinking cups to school children started in 2009, yet not even a quarter of these children has access to such uniforms.

16. They have wasted $1.5bn on the STX Korea deal in the name of affordable housing, yet over 5,000 units of affordable houses built by their predecessors have become white elephant.

17. The NDC is the first political party to have built a party headquarters valued at $20m. Meanwhile, there are several schools under trees in Ghana.

18. As a football loving party, the NDC did well in the $5m sponsorship package it gave to the party's foot soldiers to watch the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

19. Their tenure has witnessed a lot of calamities - fire outbreaks, motor accidents, mining disasters, plane crashes, floods, spousal killings, among others.

20. They have set up Heroes Fund with a seed money of GHC1m to award victims of electoral violence. This is one of the best insurance policies for party foot soldiers.

21. They have criminally pampered a sickly president to hang on to power, and "kill" him eventually to pave way for John Mahama to become president. Even when a dog dies, there could be a postmortem to determine the cause of the death. How much more a sitting president?

22. They have set up Special Forces unit in the army to harass political opponents, courtesy, Yaw Boateng Gyan, the NDC's National Organiser.

23. Corruption under the NDC administration is very alarming. The GYEEDA report, where NDC's MPs have been cited to have misappropriated government funds says it all.

24. The NDC has put a ban on recruitment to all public institutions, including teaching and nursing. I am a victim of this wicked directive.

25. Strike actions, and demonstrations among public sector workers - UTAG, FUSSAG, NAGRAT, GNAT etc have characterised the NDC's administration since 2009.

Fellow Ghanaians, this is the party that will be in the helm of affairs for the next three and half years. They opposed Akufo-Addo's free SHS policy vehemently citing lack of funds, yet they have promised to build 250 public senior high schools. Do you trust them?

My next article will be a reminder of NDC's promises, including the almighty "one time premium".

God bless Ghana! God bless the NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!

Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Asante Bekwai-Asakyiri (Free SHS Ambassador) Official blog: (www.katakyie.com) katakyienpp@yahoo.co.uk 0202471070 : 0264931361 : 0547851100