Akufo-Addo is lost – Adams

Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo is lost as far as the level of development in the country is concerned, hence, his recent comments that Ghana is going backwards under President John Dramani Mahama, National Organiser of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Adams, has said.

At an NPP branch meeting in Paris, on Saturday May 28, Mr Akufo-Addo said Ghana has retrogressed in the sub-region, in the past five years while its neighbours are surging forward.

“Cote d’Ivoire, five or six years ago was coming from civil war. The election in 2010 led to 100,000 displaced people, 3,000 people were killed as a result of the election between Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara. In five years, because of good, strong leadership, Cote d’Ivoire is today the number one investment destination in Africa. They are growing at 9% a year and we are growing at 3.9%. Last year, Cote d’Ivoire earned over $12 billion in exports of its agricultural products. In the same time, we earned $2 billion,” he said.

“We have to change these statistics. John Dramani Mahama cannot help us,” the former Attorney General said.

Outlining four “simple” reasons why Ghana cannot continue under President Mahama, and “why this man cannot help us”, Mr Akufo-Addo said “in the 2012 manifesto of the NDC, they promised that over the next four years, i.e. between 2012 and 2016, they were going to grow the economy at an average of 8%. Last year we did 3.9%.”

But speaking with TV3 Network on Sunday May 29, Mr Adams said Ghana has experienced tremendous development in all sectors of the economy, a condition in the country he said the three-time opposition leader seemed unaware of.

“[The] countries he [Akufo-Addo] is comparing [Ghana] to, like Cote d’Ivoire did not start growing without methodic investment in areas that are vital. We [Government] are investing in health care, we are investing in our road infrastructure, we are building interchanges to connect various cities to make it easier for people to be able to move, we are building the energy sector of this country,” Mr Adams highlighted.

He added: “Indeed La Cote d’Ivoire that he is talking about is envious of Ghana’s investment in gas processing because they have not been able to achieve that. We are investing in agriculture, in the area of education, reviving collapsed industry.”

To further demonstrate that President Mahama is developing the country, Mr Adams noted that “tomorrow [Monday] God willing, His Excellency the President will be in Komenda to commission a sugar processing factory that will be creating over 7,000 jobs directly and indirectly. There are many factories that have been revamped, shoe factories, cement factories and others. So, what is Nana Addo talking about?” He quizzed.