The flag bearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has outlined many interventions the Akufo-Addo government put in place to subdue the suffering of Ghanaians.
Dr. Bawumia, who is also the Vice President, has said that when citizens are suffering, it is the responsibility of the government of the day to adopt interventions that will lessen their plight.
Responding to the question of whether the incumbent administration has attempted alleviating the suffering of Ghanaians as he echoed on a campaign platform as a running mate in 2016 –the famous ‘Ghanaians are suffering‘ message, –he responded in the affirmative.
According to him, although the Akufo-Addo administration has not holistically dealt with the issue, it has created jobs and developed policies that has contributed to ameliorating the hardship people faced prior to their takeover.
In his response to the question at a media encounter Sunday, August 25, 2024, Dr. Bawumia said that “we’ve moved on significantly since 2016 and at the end of the day, you reduce suffering by creating jobs and bringing in social interventions and we’ve created at least 2.1 million jobs and per capita income has gone up in threefold.”
He added that government was able to keep all public workers employed during the Covid-19 without laying people off, something that is worth applauding.
He stated also that the restoration of the teacher and nursing trainee allowances, together with the addition of sickle cell and dialysis patients on the National Health Insurance Scheme, are all part of the interventions the administration he is part of, adopted to subdue the suffering of Ghanaians.
Dr. Bawumia also mentioned the provision of free water and electricity to Ghanaians during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, although Ghanaians are paying what was given in multiple fold, the Vice President says it is part of the measures they adopted to reduce the struggles people are going through.
The provision of free education for people under the Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET), medical supply with drones during the Covid, the increased beneficiaries of school feeding programme from 1.6 million children to 4 million children, are all part of the interventions Dr. Bawumia said was undertaken by this administration to reduce the suffering of people.
Aside from absorbing examination fees for all school children, the Vice President added that the procurement of ambulances to all constituencies across the country are part of their achievements with regards to reducing the burden on the citizenry.
In business, he mentioned that government has distributed GHC1.4 billion to 444,000 Small and Medium Enterprises to cushion their businesses, adding the renewal of the National Health Insurance and the purchase of electricity credit on the mobile phone as part of the success stories the NPP administration has chalked to reduce the suffering of Ghanaians.
