Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has criticised the Mahama administration for failing to implement the Women’s Development Bank (WDB) idea.
He says two years into office, the WDB has not opened its doors to any woman.
“The NDC also promised a Women’s Development Bank. Almost two years on, that bank has not opened its doors to a single market woman,” he said during the NPP’s conference in Kumasi on Saturday, October 3.
Electricity and Cost of Living
He said the NDC promised a reduction in electricity tariff under the 24-hour economy, but the opposite has happened:
“However, nearly two years on, there has rat her been a dramatic increase in electricity tariff thus crippling households, small businesses and industries. Today, the barber shop owner, the hair salon operator, the bread baker and many young businesses who were promised better electricity tariffs are now striving to survive because much of their sales are going into electricity bills under the NDC government.”
On the cost of living, he added:
“As if the suffocating electricity and water tariffs are not enough, cost of transportation continues to rise, especially in the cities, due to rising cost of spare parts and fuel. Cost of rent has also continued to rise. So even though on paper, inflation has declined to 5%, the cost of living for ordinary Ghanaians has increased massively!”
Cedi stability – living on NPP’s gold programme
Dr. Bawumia said the government’s only lifeline has been the cedi:
“In the midst of the government failing to fulfill its promises and unleashing all these difficulties to households and businesses, its lifeline has been the relative stability of the Cedi, largely supported by our innovative Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.”
“In June 2021, on my recommendation, the Bank of Ghana launched the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme to protect our currency from global shocks. Records show how the programme saved our economy from serious crisis and revamp of the Cedi. And the programme is today the major support behind the stability of the cedi, and with it the easing of inflation and interest rates that this government now celebrates. Ironically, key officials of the government today opposed the policy when it was introduced, vehemently claiming it was not feasible.”
Agenda 111 and Free SHS
“Also, several programs we bequeathed to this Government, designed to help Ghanaians live a higher quality of life have been abandoned. Our crucial national healthcare intervention, Agenda 111, which was designed to provide all districts without much-needed district hospitals, has stalled.”
“If the NPP was in office, these hospitals would have been completed to provide easy access to healthcare to millions of Ghanaians and tens of thousands of jobs to health graduates.”
“In education, Free Senior High School is suffering under the NDC. After they promised to improve meals for students, today it has deteriorated. Many of our young BECE graduates are being deliberately cut off from Free SHS and what frustrated parents are told by the government is that their wards have deservedly failed.”
“I believe many Ghanaians are not surprised by the way the NDC government is managing the Free SHS program. They never believed in it. They bastardised it for years, election after election until they realized its impact on every household in Ghana.”
