2020 polls: I am ready to ease the burden of Ghanaians – Mahama

Former President and Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has expressed shock over the performance of the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

According to him, even though, he knew the NPP government would perform terribly he didn’t anticipate the party performing this poorly in government.

In a Facebook post monitored by The Ghana Report, the former president, said the extent of regression in what was promised vis-à-vis what has been delivered is very disappointing.

“We knew the NPP had no intention of honouring its lofty promises, but the extent of retrogression is unbelievable,” he wrote.

He painted a gloomy picture of the Ghanaian economy which he says is characterized by massive youth unemployment promising to turn the tide when voted into power in 2020.

“I am ready, very ready! I am ready to work hard to provide jobs for our youth, as well as reduce the high cost of living in the country,” he promised.

Read the full text below;

We see the cracks in the foundation of our economy. The NPP told tall tales, with lofty rhetoric, about the prospects for our economy. They went to town over my administration’s decision to seek financing for infrastructure projects by borrowing on the capital markets.

Yet, when we did so, it involved the well-planned, well-managed use of credit facilities to upgrade our ailing physical infrastructure to meet the needs of a modern middle-income economy.

The fruits of those efforts are visible all around the country – in the new clinics and district hospitals, in affordable housing, in the new roads and rail lines, in our expanded energy generation capacity, in the mechanization of our agriculture, in our access to potable water supply, in telecommunications, in our aviation industry.

All these and more were made possible by our well-thought out policy agenda – so many, that the government has had to hijack our projects to commission and recommissioning all over the place.

Our government prized principle over popularity and endeavored to make decisions about every pesewa borrowed on those grounds.

Today, Ghanaians pay far more for fuel and transportation than they paid under the NDC. Unemployment among our youth continues to rise against the backdrop of bankruptcies and collapsing businesses. When importers were promised easier times with reductions on import duties, they ended up paying far more than they ever paid under the NDC. Business associations continue to wail at the impact of the plethora of taxes on their businesses.

Our people are suffering.

Rising poverty levels is creating anxiety, stress and depression. We knew the NPP had no intention of honoring its lofty promises, but the extent of retrogression is unbelievable.

We cannot in good conscience let the current state of affairs continue without standing up to do my part.

I am ready, very ready! I am ready to work hard to provide jobs for our youth, as well as reduce the high cost of living in the country.