Akatsi South MCE explains Dr. Bawumia’s 2016 ‘Ghanaians are Suffering’ campaign statement

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Akatsi South in the Volta Region, Hon. Leo-Nelson Adzidogah has been explaining what he described as the contextual meaning of the 2016 ‘Ghanaians are Suffering’ campaign message by the Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia.

‘Ghanaians are suffering’ was the central campaign message of the Vice President in the run-up to the 2016 polls aimed at drumming home the intensity of the suffering Ghanaians were said to be experiencing under the John Dramani Mahama-led NDC administration. During one of the campaign sessions, Dr. Bawumia categorized various professions in the country and how persons in those fields were feeling the devastating effect of the ‘poor economy’ under the former President.

In a write-up intercepted by Akukorku Media Consult, Mr. Adzidogah maintained that the suffering was not only everywhere but also felt by the people in all ways. The country was indeed driven into total abject poverty of the highest magnitude, he intimated.

According to the MCE, the hopeless situation at the time came about as a result of the mismanagement of the economy under the former President, John Dramani Mahama. Hon. Adzidogah alleged that some scandals and developments such as SADA, the free flying guinea fowls, Ameri deal, bus branding, over bloated cost of the circle inter-change and the Kumasi Airport projects, cancellation of teacher and nursing trainee allowances became rife.

The Akatsi South MCE noted that a closer examination of the above issues resulted in one conclusion that no attention was paid to ordinary Ghanaians by way of maximizing their welfare, adding that the net effect of this was the massive suffering Ghanaians endured over the period under the former President.

Mr. Leo-Nelson Adzidogah accused the Mahama-led administration of practically doing nothing to cushion the hardships, saying no serious effort was equally made to introduce any social intervention to give relief to the people.

In April, 2018, the former President, John Dramani Mahama literally ‘played back’ Dr. Bawumia’s ‘Ghanaians are Suffering’ comment to him, accusing the Nana Addo-led NPP government of creating harsh economic conditions for Ghanaians. Recent demonstrations and strike actions by labour unions including the famous ‘fix the country’ campaign and demonstrations have resurrected the Vice President’s 2016 campaign messages ahead of the polls.

Reacting to these developments in his write-up, the Akatsi South MCE pointed out that the context in which the Vice-President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia put his message must be understood. Here are Hon. Adzidogah’s full reasons and concerns:

The NDC is making every attempt to throw the contextual meaning away in order to achieve equalization.

The issue here is how our resources are used to benefit Ghanaians. If the resources are judiciously used and the outcome is suffering, Ghanaians will know that one day it will bear fruit because every decision takes time to produce the needed result. Therefore, the living conditions under the NPP government led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo will have different meaning as compared to what pertained under the NDC government led by the former President, John Dramani Mahama.

Believing that the two are the same will amount to nothing but a mere mischievous propaganda and a clear miscomprehension of how our resources are used. The NPP government uses our resources for the benefit of the next generation while the NDC uses the same resources for purposes of winning the next election.

Critical and bold decisions need to be made to put Ghana on the path of progress and prosperity in order to ensure our survival. The current government is undertaking expansionary expenditures in order to fund good policies and programmes that will make life more meaningful for Ghanaians.

We can mention them; the free Senior High School policy, restoration of nurses and teacher trainees’ allowances, establishment of NABCO to absorb the unemployed graduates, payment of registration fees for BECE and WASSCE students, expansion of the school feeding programme, massive infrastructure provision, development of the railway sector, creation of six regions which are being provided with the needed resources to function properly in addition to the many other socio-economic programmes being implemented by government to enhance the living conditions of the people.These programmes are meant not only to only ensure our survival today but also our future and long term existence as a country.

The implementation of these plans and programmes involve massive doses of funding. This government is doing everything possible to sustain these programmes in order to maximize the living conditions of the people.

The government is applying itself to judicious and efficient utilization of the country’s resources including due diligence in contracting loans for our development projects. For the economy to be on an even keel, the government decided to restructure the banking sector hence the clean-up exercises to make the sector vibrant to guarantee a robust and resilient economy to engineer growth, development and prosperity.

This exercise cost the government huge resources to undertake. This underlines the determination of the government to open the economy for massive investment capital to augment the limited domestic capital to promote economic development.

The only unfortunate situation that has caused a great headache and challenge for this government is the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected the whole world. This situation is causing severe imbalance in the finances and dislocation of the economic policy direction of every country including Ghana.

The government has committed a lot of resources to fight this deadly pandemic. This demands a pragmatic approach from the government in order to overcome the challenges and survive as a country. Therefore any political party that wants to make capital out of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s 2016 campaign message must put everything into a proper contextual perspective.

Evaluating the current situation against what happened during the former NDC administration led by President John Dramani Mahama, one can only come to one inescapable conclusion that the current political dispensation led by President Nana Akufo Addo is doing impressively well by managing our resources judiciously.

The resources that were used in the past for self-promotion for election winning purposes are now being used to create opportunities for the people to enjoy meaningful lives. This must be situated in the context of the “Ghanaians are suffering” comment.

When resources were freed from the cancellation of teacher and nursing trainee allowances under former President John Dramani Mahama, it was expected that more development should happen but there is nothing to show for that.

There was no free senior high school policy, no payment of examination fees for BECE and WASSCE students, no effort to offer jobs to the unemployed graduates, no banking sector clean up, no COVID situation and no massive investment in the railway sector.

All these interventions demand huge resources to implement. In the absence of these interventions, where did the resources go during former President John Dramani Mahama’s administration? Clearly, there was mismanagement of the resources. There is nothing to show for the huge resources that were available for the former President. If he had been confronted with these situations during his administration, Ghana would have been plunged into total abyss.

The judicious application of our resources and the COVID-19 situation should not be used to downgrade the good works of the President Akufo Addo-led government. The COVID situation has had negative impact on our economic fortunes and this situation is outside the control of government. President Akufo Addo is doing well by bringing this situation under control for our survival.

This government is performing excellently well and deserves to be supported in order to sustain the path so far charted for the development of the country.

The “Ghanaians are suffering” campaign message fits into the 2016 situation in which we found ourselves amidst abundant resources. Let us lend massive support to the NPP government to maintain power because the exit of this government will spell another doom for the country. Let us help this government to break the eight (8) year cycle to ensure the continued survival of the country.

Credit : Akukorku Media Consult