Rejoinder: Nana slams Mahama over ghost projects

The above headline has been widely reported in both mainstream and Social media as part of statements made by President Akufo Addo during his tour of the Brong Ahafo Region over the weekend.

The President is reported to have made a number of false claims about the erstwhile Government of President Mahama, including the claim of "Ghost projects". Ordinarily, effusions such as these should not have elicited a dignified response, given the President's high propensity to engage in mendacious propaganda and cheap lies, only to be exposed and embarrassed time after time.

However, given the fact that the President, having transcended from an Opposition Leader to a Head of State, it is important to put out the facts, in order to correct some of the misconceptions churned out by our President.

Indeed, it would appear our President was sleeping through his tour of the Brong Ahafo region as he has been doing on his job for the past one year and half. He clearly spoke like a man who was still in a sleeping mode, having just returned from a family retreat in the UK.

Mr. President, for your information, below are just a few of many infrastructural and developmental projects, undertaken by the erstwhile John Mahama Administration in the Brong-Ahafo region.

ROADS SECTOR

The following roads we constructed under the tenure of John Mahama:

* Dormaa Ahenkro- Nkrankwanta road * Dormaa Ahenkro Town roads * Dormaa Ahenkro- Babianiha roads * Babianiha- Antwirifo roads * Nkoranza Town roads * Wenchi Town roads * Techiman Town roads * Techiman- Offuman roads * Sunyani Town roads * Jema-Amoma-Anyima road * Nkoranza - Busunya road * Goaso-Akyerensua road * Mmahame Junction - Dadiesoaba road * Dadiesoaba - Siechem road * Sunyani Senior High School roads

The following are other road projects which had been awarded and were under construction at the time the NDC exited power but which your super-incompetent has abandoned:

* Kintampo Town roads * Jema Town roads * Atebubu-Kwame-Danso roads * Sankore - Nobekwa road * Bechem Town roads

HEALTH SECTOR

Mr. President, it was the government of John Mahama which:

•for the first time in the history of Brong-Ahafo region constructed, equipped and operationalized five (5) polyclinics at Techimantia, Kwatire, Bomaa, Wamfie and Nkrankwanta.

* Constructed the TAIN District Hospital at Nsawkaw. This project was about 75% complete at the time the NDC exited office.

* Constructed 121 CHIP Compounds across the region.

* Installed and equipped all Public Hospitals in the region with ultra-modern health equipment and facilities for quality health delivery.

EDUCATION SECTOR

* Again Mr. president, it was the Mills/Mahama administration which established the 1st Public University in the Brong-Ahafo region (University of Energy and Natural Resource-UNER) which today has a student population of more than 3000. It was the government of John Mahama which constructed the Dormaa satellite campus of the UNER and the many other infrastructural facilities on the main Sunyani Campus of the School.

In addition to this, the government of John Mahama:

* Constructed Nine (9) Health Training Institutions in the Brong-Ahafo Region which include the Sampa Nursing Training School, Techiman Nursing Training School, Yamfo College of Health, Dadiesoaba Nursing Training School, Seikwa Nursing Training School, Kwapong Nursing Training School, Goaso Midwifery School, Yeji Community Nursing Training etc.

* Constructed a satellite campus facility for the University of Education in Techiman.

* Expanded the Nkoranza Technical Institute by constructing eleven (11) new storey-Buildings for the school.

* Constructed fifteen (15) community Day Senior High Schools at Danyame, Techimantia, Techiman, Kasapin, Duadaso, Kintampo, Awrowa etc. and the absorption and enhancement of 16 other Community Secondary Schools in the region E.g. Sankore Senior High School.

* Constructed over 240 six (6)-unit classroom blocks for basic schools in the region. These projects were all at different stages of completion at the time the NDC left office.

* Constructed educational facilities ranging from Domitories, Classroom Blocks, Administration blocks etc. in almost every Public Senior High School in the region.

WATER Mr. President permit me to run you through just a few of the many water projects which were undertaken under the abled leadership of John Mahama for the people of the Brong-Ahafo region:

* Berekum Water project- This project will supply the people of Berekum and its environs with portable water till the year 2050.

* Construction of 23 Community Small Town Water projects across the region. Some of the communities which benefited from these projects were Kadelso, Kwapong, etc.

* 1,446 Boreholes and 71 solar-powered Boreholes across the region.

* Expansion of Bechem and Duayawkwanta water facilities.

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION

Under the leadership of John Mahama over 700 communities in the region were added to the national grid. These communities included, Danyame, Nsesreso, Antwirifo, all in the Dormaa area, all communities in the Nkrankwanta District, 80 communities in the Kintampo Municipality etc.

THE GRAND DKM DECEPTION

Finally, Mr. President, the people of the Brong- Ahafo region have not forgotten the DKM deception, on the basis of which many voted for you. That issue is perhaps the greatest swindle and betrayal of all time.

Need I remind you that you won the 2016 general elections in the BA region largely as a result of the lies you told the thousands of victims of DKM, God is Luv and Juxtor motors, which swayed them into changing the impressive NDC regime for your sub-standard government which has turned out to be a fraud.

You promised and assured the victims of these scams that an Akufo-Addo led gov't was going to ensure the prompt payment of their monies. Today the story is different. The few victims who have received some payments have done so as a result of measures put in place by the BOG under the John Mahama regime and the liquidation process which was commenced during our time. Your government has done absolutely nothing new to ameliorate the plight of these victims.

Till date, not a scintilla of evidence has been adduced to back the claim that Lordina Mahama and her Husband owed DKM. Rather, key functionaries of your government have betrayed the trust of the very people who voted for them. They have illegally acquired some of the key assets belonging to these microfinance companies which were supposed to have been liquidated to defray the debts owed to the victims.

What is even more disappointing and insulting is that you have rewarded some of the key people who were responsible for this swindle. For example, you have appointed Mr. Alex Gyan who was the Manager of God is Love financial scheme as the MCE for kintampo-South. Faisal who is the bodyguard of the Brong-Ahafo regional minister, Hon. Asoma Chereme, has also bought/acquired a storey building worth millions of Ghana cedis, belonging to DKM and located just opposite the Sunyani coronation park under very dubious circumstances. Your Deputy minister for Interior, Hon. Derek Oduro has also bought a radio station belonging to Juxtor motors which has been renamed Dero FM now located at Nkoranza.

These properties were some of the properties which were supposed to have been liquidated to defray the debts of victims. Yet they have been grabbed by your assigns and minions in a most obscene display of greed. After all this betrayal, do you still have the moral temerity to lie to the people of this region again? Pathetic!

Mr. President, you can lie your way to power but you cannot sustain yourself in office with lies. Clearly, posterity is judging your immediate predecessor well and that's making you uncomfortable. But you see, the good works of John Mahama are visible and palpable for all to see and nothing you do or say, can change that.

My humble advice to you is that you learn the virtue of giving credit to whom credit is due, for that's the true mark of statesmanship. I rest my case.