Fiifi Kwetey Should Set The Records Straight

In the build up to last years general elections, no single day passed without the Propaganda secretary of the NDC, now Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, setting the records straight, as he and his NDC youth forum put it. In most of these cases, Mr. Kwetey ended up throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians because there were no such records to be set straight. One expects that the NDC youth forum, being a very patriotic group, with the welfare of Ghana as their only priority, will take some time, at least once every week to set the records straight. BUT HERE WE ARE.

Maybe Mr. Kwetey and his group need to be reminded about the happenings in Ghana today to help them set the records straight. I will attempt to suggest a few to them.

1. Can Mr. Kwetey and his group set the records straight on the current fuel shortage we are experiencing in Ghana today?

2. Can the records be set straight on fuel prices that have gone up by 40% since the NDC took over power in January this year, contrary to their campaign promise of reducing the price of fuel drastically?

3. Can the records be set straight on Muntaka’s use of state funds to purchase pampers, khebab and baby oil for his ‘dadaba’ kids?

4. Can the records be set straight on Mahama Ayariga and Alban Bagbin using their respective offices as presidential spokesperson and majority leader to purchase low-cost tractors meant for deprived farmers?

5. Can the records be set straight on the escalating rate of armed robbery and general insecurity in Ghana today?

6. Can the records be set straight on the very hideous and dreadful performance of the ECONOMY since the NDC took over power this year, which will not be outside Mr. Kwetey’s expertise?

7. Can the records be set straight on the attacks on ex-president Kufuor and the former Government officials?

8. Can the records be set straight on why President Mills has not given 40% of his appointments to women as promised conspicuously on page 75 of the NDC manifesto?

9. Can the records be set straight on why a clean Ghana was not delivered within the first 100 days in office as we were promised? 10. Can the records be set straight on the failure of the NDC administration to clarify or to lay down a programme for implementing the one-premium National Health Insurance Scheme pledge?

11. Can the records be set straight on why within a few months, we have moved from the Kufuor era when we were regularly invited to G-8 Summits to not being invited to the G-20 Summit that laid out the blueprint for tackling the global financial crisis and designing a new global financial architecture?

12. Can the records be set straight on the lean government that we were promised and how much savings have been made so far as a result of this lean government?

13. Or is the so-called lean government leaning dreadfully on the nation’s development?

The NDC can continue with their propaganda style of government and think that Ghanaians are not clever enough to discern what is going on. Unfortunately for them, the verdict is out. Ghanaians know which way to go next time. I think the NDC are strangled by their own misplaced populist campaign promises and the president’s ministers have not shown the expertise to get the government out of the propaganda strip jacket, let alone move this country forward. I hope the president and his ministers are clear in their minds that they cannot continue to blame the past NPP administration for the next four years, because like Nana Akufo-Addo said: “excuses can never be a substitute for vision and purposeful action and can never lead to the BETTER GHANA WE WERE PROMISED”.

Candidate Mills promised to hit the ground running if he becomes president. Six months into office, it is irrefutably clear, given the way the elections went last year, that the professor hit the ground so hard that he tore a few ligaments and hence the sluggish manner in which he is handling very serious and sensitive issues pertaining the welfare of Ghanaians. With all due respect Mr. President, you cannot invest in people if you do not have a solid and vibrant economy. The NPP laid a solid foundation by restoring macroeconomic balance of the economy, while spurring growth and Ghana was on a flight to achieve middle income status by the year 2012. But the NDC, mediocre as they are, have targeted 2020 as when they can attempt to achieve middle income status for Ghana. According to their plan, it takes the NDC twelve extra years to match the NPP in achievements. John Mahama as running mate to professor Mills, knew exactly what the records were when he implored a non-comparison of records between the NPP and the NDC by saying that “a comparison of records will be a recipe for mediocrity”. I think he meant to say that a comparison of records will be a recipe to expose the NDC’s mediocrity. The ultimate proof of the NPP’s superior management of the Ghanaian economy was the ability to grow the economy, in nominal GDP terms, from US$ 3.9 billion in 2000 to US$ 16.3 billion in 2008. In this process, per capita income by end of last year was nearly US$ 600 as compared to a little over US$ 300 in 2000. As a result, poverty levels were cut by over a third – from 39% of the population in 1998/1999 to 28% by 2007/2008. Ghanaians have compared and we know. And Mr. John Mahama, for your information, we don’t necessarily have to write out the records to compare. We compare depending on what we feel, how the economy is treating us, the cost of living, the cost and accessibility to quality healthcare, pro-poor policy initiatives that make our lives better, the cost of education, and infrastructural development that we see. Ghanaians remember the last time fuel shortage hit this country and we know which party was in power then. We remember ‘cash and carry’ and we remember the National Health Insurance Scheme, and we know who implemented what. We know which party made maternal healthcare free in this country, we remember how the introduction of the School feeding programme, the Capitation Grant and the free Metro Bus ride, increased enrolment in public basic schools from 2.7 million in 2000 to 5 million in 2008. The NPP introduced the National Youth Employment Programme which currently employs 108,000 Ghanaian youth. The Bui Dam, which was the dream of Governor Guggisberg in the 1920’s, became a reality under the NPP government. Upon completion, Bui will add 400 megawatts to the country’s power generating capacity. Under the NPP, Ghana’s road network was increased by 60% from 38,000 kilometres in 2001 to 64,000 kilometres in 2007. The records go on and on.

The current Ghana we live in is too bitter to be better and the records have to be set straight. I leave Mr. Kwetey and his group to set the tone.

Herbert Krapa hkrapa@gmail.com