Politics of Tuesday, 31 May 2016
Source: Graphic.com.gh
Kofi Adams, NDC National Organiser
The National Organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Kofi Adams, has described the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as practising politics of convenience instead of one of principles.
He said the NPP flag bearer was only engaged in pick-and-choose politics and that anytime he spoke on the economy, “he lends credence to the view of many who opposed him in and outside of his party that he seems clearly unaware of where Ghana is and heading to.”
Mr Adams was speaking to the Daily Graphic in reaction to the NPP flag bearer’s view that “President John Dramani Mahama’s stay in office has proved that he has no vision for the forward movement of Ghana.”
At an NPP branch meeting in France on Saturday, the three-time opposition leader opined that “while some neighbouring countries had made giant strides in the last five years, Ghana, however, within the same time frame and under the leadership of President Mahama, is going backwards. President Mahama cannot be trusted to turn around Ghana’s dwindling fortunes.”
He said, “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 nine per cent a year and we are growing at 3.9per cent. Last year, Cote d’Ivoire earned over $12 billion in the export of its agricultural products. In the same time, we earned $2 billion.”
“We have to change these statistics. John Dramani Mahama cannot help us,” the presidential hopeful stated.
But according to Mr Adams, “the countries Nana Akufo-Addo was comparing Ghana to such as Cote d’Ivoire did not witness their growth out of nothing but through dint of hard work, right reforms they initiated over the years as well as methodic investment in infrastructural development, education, health, roads and ports that are vital to get their economies growing.”
“These reform fundamentals needed were lacking in Ghana and it is these that the NDC administration, headed by President Mahama, are focused on doing right by reforming education; giving credence to technical and science education; upgrading of schools at tertiary, secondary and basic levels to create quality and easy access,” he stated.
Additionally, the NDC National Organiser pointed out that the NDC government was investing massively in agriculture, health care, reviving collapsed industries and building the energy sector, which is the envy of Ghana’s neighbour La Cote d’Ivoire, particularly in gas processing, because Cote d’Ivoire had not been able to achieve that.
According to Mr Adams, Nana Akufo-Addo was lost, so far as the level of development in the country was concerned and was only relying on the social media without verifying facts.
“No wonder his recent comments that Ghana is going backwards under President Mahama is not surprising,’ he declared.
Ghana, in the opinion of Mr Adams, had experienced visible developments in all sectors of the economy; a condition Nana Akufo-Addo was ignorant or simply unaware of.
He mentioned that the President yesterday inaugurated a sugar-processing factory at Komenda to add to the many factories, including shoe, cement and other factories that had been revamped, and added that all these provided direct and indirect employment.
“So, what is Nana Addo talking about?” he asked.
He advised Nana Akufo-Addo to analyse Ghana’s situation in terms of average growth over a seven-year period and he would soon realise that the NDC administration had a better growth record than what the NPP did over eight years.
“It is clear the NPP do not have a campaign message and they are just holding on to straw, practising politics of convenience instead of principles,” Mr Adams stated.
He urged the leadership of the NPP to desist from doing politics of convenience.