NPP won’t give details on ‘1 dam, 1 village’ promise - Afriyie Akoto

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it is not obliged to give further and better particulars on its campaign promise of one dam, one village for communities within the three Northern regions.

President John Dramani Manama on Metro TV Good Evening Ghana, said he was yet to be abreast with such a promise and will therefore require further and better particulars.

But Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto who is the Member of Parliament for Kwadaso constituency, disclosed on Abusua Nkomo hosted by Kwame Adinra that the party is not under any obligation to produce his demands.

According to him, the promise as announced by its flagbearer is aimed at boosting agriculture in the north which has an erratic rainfall pattern to feed into the national food basket.

“Currently food production especially rice and other food crops are suffering because of the erratic rainfall pattern. The country still continues to import rice in large quantities so we are concerned and we looking for solutions to these problems through our promises”, he said.

The Ranking Member on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs said the President should be concerned about the wasted money on the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and how that amount could be recouped.

“How did the SADA project go for a project he himself implemented to bridge the gap between the North and the South. Millions of dollars were spent but no one has been prosecuted for it. People are walking free when these monies could have been used for the one dam, one village”, he said.

He said SADA he claims is already implementing the policy rather became a vehicle for corrupt practices and would advise the president to spend his energy in retrieving the lost money that could be ploughed back into very viable projects.

“We all saw what happened to his vision for SADA which was riddled with corrupt practices. He should focus on retrieving the monies and prosecuting offenders than focus his lenses on the policies of his opponents. Monies spent on SADA could have been channeled into the projects to improve crop production and give jobs to the people of the north because the policy is easy to finance and not very expensive. “He added

Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said doubting viable policies have now become the trademark of the NDC and its government saying ‘It’s their stock in trade now. It’s impossible or we cannot do it has now become their chorus”