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Press Release

NPP

Friday, March 4, 2016
 

Part One

 

Part Two


SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT ON ASEIDU NKETIAH’S HOLLOW REPRESENTATIONS ON 2ND MARCH, 2016

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media,

Thanks for attending to our invitation to this Press Conference.

A couple of days ago, the General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketia addressed a Press Conference ostensibly to respond to the True State of the Nation Address delivered by the Flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo earlier in the week.

1. Typical of the NDC and Asiedu Nketia, the strategy was to denigrate the Person of Nana Akufo-Addo and to avoid the substance of the issues that he raised.

2. Mr. Asiedu Nketia also went ahead to argue that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP failed to put forward solutions to the problems that have been created by the 8 years of the NDC governance.

Then in a quick U-turn, which was symptomatic of his lack of appreciation of the issues raised, He further claimed that whatever alternatives the proposed were not attainable.

3. And finally he dabbled in a repetition of President Mahama’s tales and sought to justify some of the President’s false claims with a couple of photographs purporting to show that some abandoned projects were apparently still being worked on.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have called you here today to set the records straight and to expose the lies that Asiedu Nketia sought to tell in that hurriedly raised Press Conference.

DRILL SHIP SAGA
 

The NDC’s claim that Nana Akufo-Addo caused financial loss to the State in the Drill Ship judgment debt case is laughable and betrays the “demonize Nana Akufo-Addo at all costs” strategy of the NDC. As we all know, the Drill Ship-related debt was actually a debt owed by the GNPC to Société Générale, which amounted to 47 million dollars by the time the NPP government under President Kufuor took office. Asiedu Nketia’s misguided and erroneous reference to Nana Akufo-Addo’s alleged incompetence is borne out of the usual ignorance and/or deliberate attempts to mislead the public.

Now, what are the facts of the so-called Drill Ship Saga, which should properly be called the Tsikata/GNPC debt saga? Mr. Tsikata, then Chief Executive of GNPC, against all corporate governance best practices and principles contracted the debt from the French bank, Société Générale, and pledged the Drill Ship “Discoverer 511”, owned by GNPC, as collateral against the debt, without any authority from GNPC’s Board of Directors whatsoever.

When Tsikata and GNPC defaulted, the debt was inherited by the Kufuor Government, and Akufo-Addo, as Attorney-General, after reviewing the facts and merits of the case, chose to settle the matter, with the approval of President Kufuor.


As it turned out, instead of 47 million dollars, Ghana paid 19.5 million dollars after the Drill Ship “Discoverer” was sold for 24 million dollars to defray the settlement. How anyone, who helped save this country nearly 30 million dollars, can be said to have caused financial loss to the State simply boggles the mind. This was a mess created by GNPC under the leadership of Tsatsu Tsikata and the first NDC government and cleared up by Nana Akufo-Addo and the Kufuor government.

This bogus and propaganda allegation, which is founded on the equally bogus propaganda report of the Judgment Debt Commission, should be dismissed by all right-thinking Ghanaians, especially as the Commission conspicuously failed to call Nana Akufo-Addo to testify in the matter, even though Nana Akufo-Addo indicated publicly his willingness to testify, if invited.

The allegation that there was a settlement between GNPC and Société Générale to pay 14 million dollars has never been proven anywhere and there is no factual support for that illusory claim. Yet this is the reason Asiedu Nketia says that, by settling a debt of 47 million dollars with 19.5 million dollars, financial loss was caused to the State by Nana Akufo-Addo.

This is ridiculous and a vain and patently useless attempt to try to tag Nana Akufo-Addo with incompetence and corruption, something that continues to elude the NDC for all the systematic efforts they put into it. The judge, who failed to invite Nana Akufo-Addo to testify, but who, against all the accepted norms of respectable judicial conduct, proceeded to make these unsubstantiated allegations, was, in the culture of the NDC, duly rewarded with promotion to the Supreme Court.

The facts on the drill ship saga are settled.

THE ECONOMY

The facts on the Economy remain undisputed. Ghana’s Economy is in crises today with all the major pillars of the economy recording negative growth. Yet Asiedu Nketia touts a GDP growth figure, which was recorded in the year 2012 driven by first oil from Kufuor’s 2007 oil find as evidence that they have done well. Even their own promise of an 8% GDP growth p.a., they have failed woefully to meet recording 3.5% according to the IMF from which they get their Policy credibility.

INFLATION


Mr. Asiedu Nketia is holding on to single digit inflation which they recorded in 2010-2011 based on manipulation of the basket of goods for calculation as evidence that this government has managed the economy well. He seems to have forgotten that once the basket of goods for calculating inflation was adjusted today’s true Inflation stands at over 19%!!!!!!!!

INTEREST RATE


Has worsened from 26% per annum to average 33% today

DEFICIT


NPP left a deficit of 6.6 in 2008. President Mahama worsened it to 12% in 2012.


In 2015, the NDC is aiming at 6.6% of GDP, which is the level that the NPP achieved in 2008.

CEDI


The price of the dollar has arisen by about 250% in 7years.

ZONGO DEVELOPMENT


It is interesting that the NDC’s Asiedu Nketiah will attempt to mock such laudable ideas like the Zongo Development Fund, which will be set up to improve conditions and build vitally needed amenities in the Zongos and other Inner Cities. This is coming from a Party that claims to love Zongos so much.

We recall that this was the same way the NDC launched scathing attacks on the proposed Northern Development Authority, led by John Mahama, only to turn around to steal the idea and totally mismanage it and turn it into an avenue for looting scarce resources meant for the development of the North.

Is it not laughable that Asiedu Nketiah and the NDC will today question policies on the establishment of special funds? This is coming from a Party and government that devoted a special fund to rearing Guinea Fowls who as we later found out all migrated to neighboring Burkina Faso.

Asiedu Nketiah claimed that the highest growth rates and longest periods of single digit inflation were achieved under the NDC and asked that Ghanaians be continually grateful to the NDC for such achievements.

But ladies and gentlemen, what is the value of a high growth rate and single digit inflation, years ago when at the end of the day, the reckless management of the Economy and corruption has landed us back at the doorsteps of the IMF for a bailout? What is the value of such achievements when for over 3 years, Economic Growth has stagnated and Manufacturing growth has been in the negative? What is the value of such achievements when as a result of the mismanagement of the economy, resources have become so scarce that the government has resorted to imposing and increasing taxes on every conceivable good and service including condoms, cutlasses, savings etc.?

What is the value of such achievements years ago when as a result of the incompetence of the current government, Ghanaians have been burdened with a 4 year long Dumsor phenomenon which has led to the needless deaths of hundreds of Ghanaians and destroyed thousands of lives?
What is the value of such achievements when today, as a result of the ditch Ghana finds itself in, the government is desperate to abolish every conceivable allowance and incentive for workers and businesses including Teacher and Nursing Trainee allowances? What is the value of such achievements when Agric, the largest employer of the Ghanaian people is now firmly on a backward track?

Ladies and Gentlemen, this attempt by the NDC to hang on to a high growth rate for a single year, is nothing but yet another classic display of mediocrity and shameless incompetence.

For the records, ladies and gentlemen, the highest non-oil GDP growth rate according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) till date, was achieved under the NPP in 2008 when the economy saw a 9.1% Growth. The closest the NDC got to this unprecedented non-oil GDP was in 2012 when the non-oil GDP was 8.6% - since then and as a result of the recklessness in that year, economic growth has been on a steady decline.

For the records again, ladies and gentlemen, the 2011 GDP growth rate of some 14% which the NDC likes to cling on, was as a result of the fact that 2011 was the first year of the inclusion of oil proceeds into our kitty and GDP calculations. The non-oil GDP for the year 2011 was 8.2%, far lower than the 9.1% (according to the GSS) the NPP left office with in 2008, when it must be added, the Global Economy was in unprecedented crisis. We need not remind you that the oil discovery was fully the result of the competence, foresight and commitment of the NPP administration under Former President Kufuor, to finding oil after decades of mismanagement and looting by the NDC through GNPC.

So again, Asiedu Nketiah demonstrated his penchant to lie and the fact that he and his NDC appointees are very bad when it comes to reading and finding information for themselves, when he claimed that the NPP couldn’t match their high GDP Growth Rate. It is not surprising why Ghana is in such a dire state today.

Indeed, what was most ridiculous was the attempt to hand this false credit to John Mahama, even though it was under the Presidency of John Atta Mills, when at the same time, the NDC and Asiedu Nketiah continued claiming falsely that their government had been in power for only 4 years. Indeed, we have noticed with amusement how almost all the projects being claimed by John Mahama today, were either initiated under the NPP administration or under the first 4 years of the NDC administration (2009-2012) but how desperate John Mahama and his NDC try to make these projects look like achievements of the last 4 years.

Asiedu Nketiah amongst others also claimed that John Mahama is committed to transforming the structure of the economy with an emphasis on manufacturing and listed claims of support to the manufacturing sector and private business.

These claims, ladies and gentlemen, are not only funny but an insult to the intelligence of the Ghanaian people and especially those in the manufacturing industry.

Is it not funny to note that manufacturing for the last three years has been growing in the negative at a time when the government and its propagandists are claiming unprecedented commitment to manufacturing? If being committed to manufacturing leads to a negative 2% manufacturing growth as happened in 2015, then one can only shudder to imagine what would have happened if the government wasn’t claiming to be committed to Manufacturing.

Ladies and Gentlemen, what is also clear and without dispute is that despite all the propagandist claims of commitment and support for private business, under no administration have Ghanaian businesses suffered more than under the current incompetent and insensitive John Mahama government.

As we speak, hardworking businessmen and women have closed down their businesses to protest the unprecedented anti-business policies and taxes that have been heaped on the ordinary Ghanaian business. Many of such businessmen have indeed closed their businesses permanently or been bankrupted by the policies of the current government.
Indeed, it was under this government that a Deputy Minister of State remarked that if businesses find taxes too high, they can relocate to Togo and other neighboring countries.

Under this incompetent government and as a result of mainly the four year Dumsor, harsh tax policies and generally unfavorable conditions, hundreds of businesses in the Agricultural, Industry and Services sectors have all collapsed or been forced to relocate to neighboring countries like the Ivory Coast.

Small and medium enterprises like cold stores, barbering shops and salons, eateries and many others have been the biggest losers in the current scheme of doing things, where the government appears to have positioned itself as a rival to business and is doing everything possible to collapse them.

This is certainly not a record one has to be proud about, but the NDC is shameless and will brandish such a record.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the NDC keeps mentioning the Komenda Sugar Factory as one of their achievements. For over 7 years, they have been touting this claim. But ladies and gentlemen, how many of us have seen sugar from the Komenda Sugar Factory before? It will be also interesting to know how many tones of Shea butter the Buipe Shea Factory, which is a private enterprise, has produced since it was established.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Asiedu Nketiah made the weird claim that Rice importation had significantly decreased under the NDC – but this is again, another clear lie. Ghana imported 395,400 tons of Rice in 2008. By 2013, this figure had shot up to 600,000 tones. As to how this is a significant decrease, only Asiedu Nketiah and John Mahama can explain.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

It amazes all observers that the NDC will claim that the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo offered no solutions to the problems highlighted in the True State of the Nation Address.

This claim by Asiedu Nketia and the NDC sharply betrays the incompetence that characterizes everything they do. Because if ever they pay attention to anything the NPP says they will surely not make such claims when everyone who listened to or read the Address can bear testimony to the more than 13 Policy Alternatives that were outlined by Nana Akufo-Addo.

If alternatively they listened, then they must surely have a problem in comprehending. They must be lacking the competence to understand the text read and published by the NPP.

For the avoidance of doubt, pages 15-17 of Nana Akufo-Addo’s address outlines 16 policy solutions to solve the current challenges that Ghana has been plunged into. Is Mr. Asiedu Nketia and the NDC saying they neither heard of read these options?

But if they didn’t read or hear them, how come then Asiedu Nketia after claiming there were no solutions offered proceeds to further argue that the NPPs proposals smack of throwing money at every problem and that that is unworkable.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia and the NDC have by this double speak on the matter of solutions shown clearly that they are not interested in the substance of the matters raised in Nana Akufo-Addo’s address. Instead they are only seeking to dabble in the same politics of bastardising everything NPP.

Ghanaians however are aware, that the well thought through Policy initiatives which the NPP always puts on the table is what is needed at all times in fighting our ills as a nation. The NDC approach of saying everything by the NPP is unworkable and then quickly shifting to steal, rename and poorly implement these Policies has now been seen through by all and sundry. A few of the 16 include:


As mentioned the 16 Policy Solutions are outlined on pages 15-17 of the NPP statement and can be examined by any interested objective person.


PRESIDENT MAHAMA’S LIES
Since the President’s address on February 25th many Ghanaians have openly challenged lots of the untruthful claims that President Mahama made about projects he had done across the country.

The NDC in his bid to save the President from the embarrassment claimed at his Press Conference that Nana Akufo-Addo had said the Salaga Hospital was non-existent. He then proceeded to show a picture of the uncompleted structure on the site using it as a basis to claim Nana Akufo-Addo lied.

For the Avoidance of doubt permit me to quote Nana Akufo-Addo’s exact words on Page 3 of his Address. This is what Nana Akufo-Addo said.

“Far from the work progressing on the 60-bed district hospital at Salaga, as the President claimed, those who live in the community describe the site as “fenced, locked and abandoned. Residents of Hohoe have said their town roads were done during the Kufuor administration.”

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, have you yourselves as media houses not confirmed these? Are these words untrue or difficult to understand? Why then the mischief or deliberate distortion of the facts to score Political Points?

Subsequent to Nana Akufo-Addo’s address, indeed more ordinary citizens are coming out daily to challenge the untruthful claims made by the President.
It remains a fact that many of President Mahama’s claims on that day were untruthful and have been exposed not only by Nana Akufo-Addo but by ordinary Ghanaians living in these communities where he claimed these projects existed.

ROADS

Take roads for example, Mr. Asiedu Nketia claims he is unaware that the NPP in its 8 years built over 30,000km of roads with a smaller resource envelope as compared to the NDCs 3,700km with much more resources in the same 8 year period? And similar to his propaganda approach the NDC always takes to things, he invites Ghanaians on en expedition to search for the NPPs missing roads.

For his information the Data on the NPPs 30,000km of Roads is verifiable at the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ministry of Transport. Data on the NDCs 3700km of roads which the President took over 30 minutes to list for Propaganda effect is also included in his State of the Nation’s Address. Surely Ghanaians know that 30,000km is over 8 times the length of 3700km.

No matter how many times they repeat their lies and show pictures of 3700km of roads, it will not compare to 30,000km of roads.

And if Mr. Mahama described 30,000km as mediocre, then what do you call 3,700km.

Cont'd......1/2
 

 

 

 

 

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