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News release
NPP
November 17, 2014
BAWUMIA: NPP BORROWED
$5.5BN IN 8YRS, NDC $27BN IN 6YRS
The 2016 Vice Presidential Candidate of the
New Patriotic Party, Mahamudu Bawumia, has
warned Ghanaians, “the stakes are high for
our country in 2016 because of what is
happening to the economy” and to allow the
NDC to stay one day in office beyond the
eight years would be a major tragedy for the
future of Ghana.
Addressing a fundraising dinner held in his
honour in London, United Kingdom, last
Friday, Dr Bawumia lamented, “There’s
suffering in the land. Needless, untold
sufferings…”
He defined the sum total of the leadership
of John Mahama to “Corruption +
Mismanagement = Wahala”.
He also criticised President John Mahama of
reducing the essence of governance to
“borrowing” recklessly and “taxing”
ruthlessly, including putting taxes on a
commodity like condom.
The respected economist used comparative
figures to show how low the country has sunk
since the NPP was voted out of power in
December 2008 and called for an electoral
end to the eight years of negative
experiment and experience under the NDC.
Backing his claims with facts and figures,
he stated that an unprecedented amount of
money has been spent since 2009 under the
National Democratic Congress and with very
little to show for it as the NDC comes to
the end of its second successive term in
office in 2016.
“In the last six years, the NDC has borrowed
US$27 billion. Before that, we, the NPP,
borrowed a total of US$5.5 billion in eight
years. Compare that to the NDC borrowing $27
billion in six years and ask yourself what
have they done with all that money,” the
running mate to Nana Akufo-Addo told the
heavily attended annual fundraising dinner
of the NPP UK branch.
He said, though a lot more money has been
spent, it is a paradox of economic
management that this level of excessive
spending has only led to greater hardships
being visited on the people.
“NDC inherited a public debt stock of GHS9.5
billion in 2009,” the former Deputy Governor
of the central bank said. “Today, Ghana’s
debt has gone up to GHS65.7 billion. So when
I say the stakes are high I am talking about
the destiny of our country, Ghana, the
future of the youth,” he stressed.
Under the NDC, Ghana became an oil producing
economy, with cocoa and gold prices all
doing comparatively better than under the
previous eight years of the NPP. Yet,
Ghanaians remember the Kufuor era with
nostalgia because of the greater
achievements chalked.
Showing why NPP is the party Ghanaians can
trust with the public purse, Dr Bawumia
reminded his audience of some of the
investments that President J A Kufuor’s
government made in education, health,
infrastructure and the deliberate policies
implemented that led to significant
expansion of the economy.
“The NDC has been taxing everything,
including condoms and cutlasses. In terms of
resources, this NDC government has had more
resources than any other government. We did
not have oil. Yet, Ghanaians know what we
did with the limited resources we had. We
spent money responsibly to create the NHIS,
introduce Capitation Grant, expand access to
education, we spent wisely on infrastructure
and built more roads than any other
government,” he said, giving examples of
some of the deeds of the NPP.
While he said, many more Ghanaians are
becoming increasingly aware of the superior
leadership the NPP represents, he warned the
NPP to show far greater competence and
vigilance in protecting the votes of the
people in the future.
“The stakes for us as a party are very high.
We all saw during the election petition the
evidence. You and I were there.”
Dr Bawumia charged, “The NDC practically
stole the election from us. We should never
allow this to happen to us again. The
Supreme Court has taught us a lot of lessons
and we have to take those lessons into 2016.
“
He assured the UK gathering that the party
was currently “testing systems to make sure
that what happened in 2012 won’t happen to
us in 2016.”
Last Thursday, the National Council of the
NPP appointed Dr Bawumia to head a special
committee tasked to prepare a report on
electoral reforms for the party.
The Chairman of the NPP UK branch, Michael
Ansah said, “Our nation is riddled with
corruption,” and called on the party to take
the project of electoral reforms in its
efforts to rescue the country from the NDC.
“2016 represents a water shed in the life of
our nation,” and the NPP must take up the
task to pull Ghana back from the brink of
disaster and onto the path of prosperity and
opportunities.
“Ours is the party that is on the right side
of history,” he underlined.
The event took place at the Prince and
Princess Banquet Hall, Edmonton, North
London.
Released by NPP, Ghana
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