Who Is the Greatest Liar, JEAM/JDM or Bawumia?
H.E. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in opposition days spoke for his party against things the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, did. During such fiery moments he promised that when voted into power, he will arrest the dollar, stabilise the cedi and will never borrow to manage affairs of the country.
In 2017, he was sworn in as vice president and to date, all three vows he took, were never honoured. For this he is called a liar, by the NDC.
But this was not the first a politician had made promises he could not keep. In 2008 when world market price of crude oil went up to $120.00 a barrel, President Kufuor pegged the ex-pump price even as the world price continued to rise and settled at $147.00 per barrel.
Prof. John Evans Atta Mills (JEAM), the flagbearer of the NDC, kept making a campaign promise and swore that when elected president, he would reduce the ex-pump price drastically. When he became president, JEAM rather increased ex-pump price of fuel by 70%, even though the world market price was down from $147.00 to $80.00 per barrel. So, what was John Evans Atta Mills?
Today, he is been branded a liar and has twenty-five things listed against him which are used to describe him as such.
These are, fights against galamsey and corruption; medical drones and 350 new SHS and one village, one dam; one district, one factory and $1 million per constituency; free bank account for every civilian; protecting the public purse and toilet facilities for every village; water for all villages and Accra becoming the cleanest city in Africa; job creation and promise to operate a lean government; zero tolerance for nepotism and developing Ghana without borrowing; punishing corrupt government appointees; one constituency, one warehouse and a hot meal and chocolate for every child; Reducing electricity and water tariffs and reducing fuel prices; the Ghana Post GPS system, stabilizing of the Ghana cedi and reducing cost of living.
The president’s resolve to fight galamsey has been implemented, however, the very people who will benefit directly from the exercise, have rather joined with other violators, to sustain galamsey. So, can the president be blamed if the fight against this evil act is not being successful.
As for the case of corruption, the NDC should not just go there. What went into the construction of Terminal 3 to make it cost over $250 million, while an airport built from scratch in Ethiopia, which will have a terminal like our Terminal 3, cost $27 million? If not gross corruption, then I do not know what to say.
I willpick six others and prove that the opposition NDC loves pulling dust in the eyes of Ghanaians just to attack NPP policies that are hurting their bid to come back to power.
Ghana is recognised as the leading country in the world, when it comes to using drones for medical deliveries and this is something the NDC is finding it very hard to accept. Zipline in Ghana has made the country, the hub of medical drones in the world.
With Free SHS, as at 2020, out of a total of 1,119 SHS infrastructural projects begun by the NPP government in 2017,539 were completed. This exceeded the 350 projects the NDC is saying had never been done.
The 1D1F Initiative is one project which is certainly disrupting NDC’s chances at the polls in 2024, so in whatever way, it must be bastardised. Based on this the NDC is saying the Initiative had flopped because government has not put up a single factory. Does the law on 1D1F agree with them?
Presenting a statement on the 1D1F Initiative on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday July 21, 2023, the then sector minister, Hon Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, stated among the initiative’s core principles that 1D1F companies are not state enterprises but are privately owned companies actively supported by government.This was made known to MPs in Parliament and they accepted it, so what is wrong with the NDC, now.
From 2017 to date, out of the 296 1D1F projects initiated, 126 companies are operational, 143 are under construction and 27 are in the pipeline. So, how could the NDC say that Dr. Bawumia is a liar and he is spreading untruths about the 1D1F?
Calling Dr. Bawumia a liar for failing to create jobs for the youth in this country, is one fallacy. Statistics have established that NDC’s Mills/Mahama government inherited an unemployment rate of 4.98% from the NPP Kufuor administration and after eight years, it handed over at 5.11% to the Nana Addo administration.
In 2017, the unemployment rate was reduced to 3.37% and has remained in the three-percentage digit to date. So, how can the NDC say Bawumia lied about reducing unemployment in Ghana?
Talking about lean government today, can the NDC truly say the current NPP government is bloated? H.E. John Mahama had a total of eighty-six ministers, including their deputies. And that was when Ghana had ten regions. During his second term, Nana Addo at one point had a maximum of eighty-two ministers and deputies, and this is when Ghana has sixteen regions. Clearly, it is obvious which party operated a bloated government when it was in power.
Dr. Bawumia led the digitalisation drive in this country, putting Ghana among the nations who nationals can apply for passport, driving license and even employment, online. The technology has arrived in Ghana, where one can pay utility bills online.
And this is what the NDC is saying was never been made manifest when it attacked Bawumia for allegedly lying about the Ghana Post GPS system. Ghanaians are amazed about NDC’s condemnation of this system, because, today, not only are places easily accessed through this system, but one could also know the digital addresses of places.
If the NDC is saying that not being able to fulfil any campaign promise makes the occupants of the presidency liars, then John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama are the greatest liars.
One of the main weapons these gentlemen used in 2008 was that when the NDC came to power, they would implement a one-term-premium for the National Health Insurance Scheme.
When JEAM/JDM became president and vice president in 2009, nothing was mentioned of the NHIS one-term-premium, which the poor and needy were anxiously looking forward to. They got. very disappointed when not only was the one-term-premium a mirage, but the NHIS was collapsed.
Secondly, H.E. John Mahama promised to build 200 Community Day Schools (CDS), but in presenting the 2016 budget statement, his own finance minister said only nine CDS had been completed. And as at October 2016, the then president commissioned only 13 CDS projects. Thirteen out of the promised two hundred.
Thirdly, President Mahama promised to build ten colleges of education but could not put up a single one before he left office.
Fourthly, in the NDC’s manifesto, JDM promised that under his watch, the average GDP growth rate would be at least 8% and there will be single digit inflation. However, the closest to 8% our GDP growth recorded under John Mahama’s reign was 7.3% in 2013. As for inflation rate, under John Mahama, 2013 recorded the lowest with 11.67%. By 2016, the country’s inflation rate was up, at 17.45%.
The NDC government promised Ghanaians in Parliament that it was going to build 5,000 housing units in Saglemi with $200 million, at $40,000.00 per unit. In the end, only 668 units were built with the NDC costing it at $196 million or $294 000.00 per unit as against the real value of $ 64 million or $95,810,00 per unit.
So, in effect out of the Parliamentary approval of a loan $200 million to built housing units for Ghanaians, the NDC under JDM took $136 million for themselves. And here, readers, by the NDC’s own computation, Terminal 3, cost more than a 5,000-housing unit. Is this for real?
The Presidential Oath of Office, states among other things, that the president would “at all times preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; and dedicate himself/herself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Ghana….”With emphasis placed on the above, the president is mandated to protect public interest.
Therefore, it was very wrong for the then AG, representing the president and the government of the NDC, to have allowed Woyome to walk free after he stole $35 million equivalent in Ghana cedis. But wait, Woyome finances the NDC, so did he finance the NDC’s new office block?
Before, I sign off, let me bring in the trustful and whole hearted relationship Rawlings had for his PNDC/NDC. He picked many from the “gutters” and made them top class citizens. He so much loved JEAM, who was nowhere in the tough days of the revolution. He forced him upon the party and stood resolutely beside him until he became president.
With Rawlings out of power, JEAM and the others relegated him into the pits and even he was called a barking dog whenever he complained about their unrighteous deeds. Pretence is another form of lie and JEAM, Mahama, Asiedu Nketia and others, lied big time to Rawlings; lies that put Rawlings in great depression until he passed on.
Readers, H.E. Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, is being wrongfully branded as a liar. Looking at the reasons why he is said to be a liar, it will be safe to say that the deeds of NDC’s Mills and Mahama places them as the greatest liars.
Hon. Daniel Dugan.
