Vice President of the Republic and flag bearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahammud Bawumia, has claimed that the government of President Akufo Addo has made life better for Ghanaians since taking charge of the country some seven years ago.
According to him, the NPP government has crafted and put to work many policies that are of huge benefit to the Ghanaian populace. Some of the policies the veep mentioned include the restoration of allowances for nursing and teacher trainee students, free Senior High School education and reduced electricity tariffs
“Since coming into office, we have implemented many policies to reduce the suffering of Ghanaians. The electricity tariffs over the last six years have seen the lowest increase (11%) for any seven-year period over the last 30 years! We also provided free electricity for lifeline users for a year and a 50% reduction in tariffs for all other consumers during COVID-19. We have restored the cancelled teacher and nursing training allowances. We have created more jobs than any other government,” he said.
The Vice President mentioned the power crisis that plagued the administration of the erstwhile John Mahama’s administration as one of the factors that made life ‘unbearable’ for Ghanaians. According to him, the power crisis during that period led to massive job losses as businesses collapsed.
He further cited the unavailability of chalks in schools, cancellation of allowances for teacher and nursing training students and ‘non-functioning’ ambulance service as contributing to the ‘hardship’ he claimed Ghanaians were subjected to in the Mahama era.
“There is no dispute about it. Why do I say so? Because the data says so! You would recall that in the previous government, we endured four years of power outages…, which collapsed many businesses and increased unemployment.
“There was no chalk in schools, and teacher and nursing training allowances were cancelled. There was a near-collapse of the National Health Insurance Scheme and the National Ambulance Service. There were increases in electricity tariffs by an average of 50% annually. And many parents could not afford the fees to send their children to senior high school,” the vice president stated.
Dr. Bawumia is currently on a campaign trail hoping to convince electorates to elect him president in the upcoming December 7 presidential election.