By
William Yaw Owusu
Saturday,
September 16, 2017
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has endorsed
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for a second term although the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) government is barely nine months into its four-year
mandate.
Mr. Rawlings said the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government
appears to be on track and in his view there is no way the opposition National
Democratic Congress (NDC), which left government recently, is going to unseat
them in 2020 after only four years in office.
He predicted that from what he is seeing as far as
the performance of President Akufo-Addo is concerned, it will be impossible for
the NPP government not to have a second term and subsequently rule for some
time.
“These people (NDC) think they can unseat this man
(Akufo-Addo) in 2020?” he asked rhetorically when popular broadcaster Nathan
Kwabena Anokye Adisi aka Bola Ray, CEO of Dr. Kwabena Duffuor’s EIB Network
paid a courtesy call on the former President to invite him to the launch of the
his autobiography scheduled for September 21.
When Bola Ray asked the former president his reasons
for insisting that President Akufo-Addo and his NPP will continue to rule when
the party he founded (NDC) wants a quick comeback to power in 2020, Mr.
Rawlings replied “NPP? After only four years? No!”
When probed further by Bola Ray whether the NPP was
going for eight years the former President was positive about it and added that
“If they do well enough… And so far it doesn’t look too bad.”
According to Starr
FM, a member of the EIB Network, Mr. Rawlings was impressed that President
Akufo-Addo has started putting things in place to ensure that the country is
well developed.
He was full of admiration for the way the
Akufo-Addo-led administration is fighting the illegal mining (galamsey) menace
and gave his blessings to Operation Vanguard, the joint military–police
taskforce that is checking the galamsey activities.
In recent weeks, the NPP government has been able to
roll out the much-publicized Free Senior High School policy which more than
400,000 students are going to benefit in the 2017/2018 academic year, the One
District One Factory (1D1F) initiative has been officially launched and the 1
Village 1 Dam project is due to take off.
The paperless port clearing system is in motion,
there is currently ongoing public sector reform and economic development
programmes are being strictly followed.
Statutory payments are currently being made on time
and the huge National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) debt left behind by the
Mahama-led NDC government is being paid.
The party’s manifesto promise to restore allowances
which were cancelled by the Mahama-led NDC government to teacher trainees,
nurses among others are on course and almost every sector of the economy is
receiving some form of critical attention.
Earlier, the government started a programme called
Planting for Food and Jobs, reduced the prices of fertilizer by half and is
improving agriculture extension services to farmers as a means to boost
agriculture.
In all these, Mr. Rawlings believes the government
is doing things right and there is no way his NDC can unseat them in 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment