Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said that the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has a message for Ghanaians ahead of the 2024 general elections.
This follows the list of achievements by the government that he presented over the weekend.
Addressing the NPP International Women’s Conference in London on Saturday, June 10, Dr. Bawumia noted that in spite of global factors which have hit several economies around the world in the past three years, the NPP government since assuming office in 2017, has done tremendously well with many landmark achievements, admitting, however, that there is more to be done.
Former Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen, who is aspiring to be a flagbearer of the NPP, recently angered NPP faithfuls when he publicly stated that the party does not have a message for the 2024 elections.
The Vice President’s extensive address in London, cheered on by party supporters, is viewed as a shot back.
“We have not had it all rosy and delivered everything that we set out to do from our day of initiation into office. But the setbacks notwithstanding, we have produced a solid track record of achievements,” Dr. Bawumia noted, as he highlighted global and domestic factors which have affected the country recently.
Dr. Bawumia said for the government’s efforts to be appreciated, it is important to recollect the state of the country and the challenges therein the government inherited, and the solutions it has proffered to address these challenges.
Among others, the Vice President listed high unemployment, Dumsor for 4 years, a virtually collapsed National Health Insurance system, a nearly collapsed national ambulance system, freeze on public sector employment, an almost collapsed banking sector, massive annual increases in utility bills, poor economic indicators, low agricultural growth, low industry growth, cancellation of teacher and nursing training allowances, as well as a huge burden of paying $1billion dollars annually for a take-or-pay excess energy capacity deal negotiated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
After listing the numerous challenges inherited, Dr. Bawumia then presented a comprehensive list of programmes, projects and policies in every sector the NPP government has implemented to address these challenges in employment, education, health, agriculture, industries, security, energy and digitalisation
On the economy, Dr. Bawumia showed how the government significantly improved the economy by getting every economic indicator far better than it inherited, until the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war struck.
On education, apart from the government’s flagship Free SHS programme, which the Vice President said has solved a generational problem of unequal access, he also listed a number of infrastructure the government has built, including thousands of classroom blocks across the country, to improve education in the country.
On the problem of high unemployment the government inherited, Dr. Bawumia noted that government has improved the situation by halting the freeze on public sector employment by the erstwhile NDC government.
He said, so far, the NPP government has created over 2 million jobs, which he indicated are verifiable.
Dr. Bawumia also highlighted better growth in agriculture, industries, and also touted the NPP’s numerous achievements in the health sector including improving the NHIS, provision of ambulances for every constituency, introduction of drones for emergency delivery of medical supplies to remote areas, treatment for children with cancers, as well as the government’s flagship Agenda 111 health initiative, which is the construction of district and regional hospitals.
Dr. Bawumia also spoke extensively on government’s achievements in reviving the industrial sector, highlighting, especially, the revival of Anglogold Ashanti, WAMCO, Ghana Publishing, GhanaPost and the establishment of many factories under 1D1F.
The climax of Dr. Bawumia’s address was when he turned his attention on digitization and listed a number of initiatives under the sector, and the numerous problems the government’s focus on digitization has addressed.
As he listed the successes, the audience cheered him on in appreciation of the detailed delivery.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, when you look at this tall list of achievements, one cannot but admit that they are monumental. Let nobody tell you that we don’t have a message for 2024,” said Dr. Bawumia.
“I must hasten to add that this does not mean we have done everything we intended to do or ought to have done. There is clearly a lot more to do and we will work hard to do more.”
