President John Mahama has urged the Ghanaians to heed the warning of the former President Jerry John Rawlings urging them to be wary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its traditions following its criticism of government’s borrowing to undertake development projects.
He said this as he rejected claims from the opposition NPP that his government is plunging the country into an economic crisis with excessive borrowing.
At the National Democratic Congress (NDC) campaign launch in August, former President Rawlings warned the NDC not to underestimate the NPP as they have been in existence almost the entirety of Ghana’s democratic existence pursuing their agenda.
Speaking to residents of Nkwanta in the Volta Region, President Mahama asserted that he would not be discouraged by the criticism because the forbearers of the opposition NPP said similar things about the country’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
“They are the same people who frustrated Dr. Nkrumah. They have been there for a very long time. They say we do not chew roads, we do not chew hospitals and we do not chew schools. During our campaign launch in Cape Coast, former President Rawlings warned us to beware of them. He said they had been there for a very long time. They tormented Dr. Kwame Nkrumah during his era.”
“They have appeared again repeating the thing they did under Kwame Nkrumah. They are again downplaying the positive impact of the loans Ghana has contracted under my era. I do not use the monies on lavish things but for projects that will last.”
The NPP’s agenda, should it win power, will be geared towards job creation per its 2016 manifesto but President Mahama has maintained that the the developmental projects undertaken by the governing NDC has also brought “income and employment.”
“When we were undertaking these projects, we employed Ghanaians as carpenters, masons, electricians and other artisans. All these people have had some form of employment I am sure their family members also benefited because they were catered for out of the income they got from being employed.”
“The schools and hospitals we are building will also employ thousands of teachers from the various colleges of educations and thousands of graduates also from the nursing training colleges.”
“While we are doing all these things, they are still saying we are wasting national resources. They are still saying we are wasting national resources,” President Mahama stated.
