Ghana
BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF
THE BLACK STAR GETS EXCITING
BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF
THE BLACK STAR GETS EXCITING
By Peter Roc
The usual brick-bracks and counter mudslinging that usually defines the run up to elections in virtually all African countries is not missing in Ghana as the West African nation gets into top gear towards its November 2016 general elections.
The battle line is clearly drawn between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its main opposition, the New Patriotic Front (NPP). With the NPP, playing the usual African opposition of basing its strategy on criticizing virtually every policy of the incumbent, the ruling NDC has also not relented in its efforts to continue to tout its various achievements over the past six years that the incumbent Mahama has been in the saddle. First two years was to complete the term of the late Professor Attah Mills, who died while he was president and his four-year first term as elected president, which he is rounding up in the next 6months.
Though relative peaceful so far, a few incidents have drawn attention to the keen nature of the forth coming contest.
A few weeks back, the main opposition leader, Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was caught in a breach when he inadvertently brought in three security experts from South Africa as security personnel and later made them trainers, thus running foul of the country’s stringent security laws, especially at a time like this when issues of terrorism and counter terrorism is very rife globally.
However undeterred the NPP flag bearer, who was ruffled by the deportation of the South Africans, to ease tension, has continued to be vociferous in his mantra of change, which ironically underscores the major thrust of majority of opposition parties in most of Sub Saharan Africa.
Meanwhile, John Dramani Mahama, the incumbent, has anchored his re-election bid on his #Changing lives #Transforming Ghana.
As part of his strategy, the incumbent has started a tour of all the 10 regions in the country, to commission lots of infra structural projects as a way of reminding the people that he has done well.
At a time when the global dip in economies is affecting a lot of countries, especially with the fall in the prices of many commodities world wide, the bite is not lost on a lot of Ghanaians. Many are complaining of rising costs of living, occasioned by incessant increase in the pump price of fuel at a time when Ghana has become an oil producing country, declining agricultural sector, rising unemployment and retrenchments, increasing graft in government amongst other litanies of woes. The issue of corruption in governments was not helped by a damning video released in 2015 by a popular under cover journalist, that caught some magistrates and judges collecting various forms of graft. This caused national and international uproar.
The main opposition NPP has expectedly capitalized on some of the seeming loopholes to push for its being voted into power come November. Nana Akufo-Addo, whose father was also a former President of Ghana, spoke at a function recently.
“ We in NPP have the solution to the problems of our country. We will harness the abundant human and natural resources of our nation to put Ghana on to a much better pedestal than she is at the moment, so we can generate wealth for all Ghanaians and jobs for the teeming masses of unemployed youth... we are coming to work for the prosperity of the nation and not to line our pockets with the wealth of our nation”
However President John Dramani Mahama has continued to defend his policies and recount his achievements. While speaking to a radio station he tactically admitted to the current hardship but promised that the focus of his government in his next term in office is to improve the standard of living of the people of Ghana. He says that the important social, economic and infrastructural foundations have been laid so the country will now enjoy the positive impact of his remarkable policies.
“ The resilience of the economy is seen in the relative stability that we are experiencing. You know what is happening in the world. There is financial crisis going on in the world and I have lived in this country all my life, in most cases where in the past we see a collapse of commodity prices of two of our principal exports the economy has always gone into a tail spin. As I speak we are having a collapse of two of our major exports, gold is down, oil is down and so the single export still sustaining the economy is cocoa, but even cocoa has gone down a bit and yet the economy is not experiencing the kind of shocks it used to experience in the past and that shows you that something is happening in the economy”
Though our independent researches has shown that quite a number of massive infrastructural projects have been embarked upon by the Mahama administration, like the very ambitious four pronged overhead bridges at the Nkrumah Circle in Accra the nation’s capital, in partnership with a Brazilian firm; the long stretch of road from Tema-Sogakope-Akatsi-Aflao roads that leads to the nation’s eastern frontiers with Togo.
The battle line is clearly drawn between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its main opposition, the New Patriotic Front (NPP). With the NPP, playing the usual African opposition of basing its strategy on criticizing virtually every policy of the incumbent, the ruling NDC has also not relented in its efforts to continue to tout its various achievements over the past six years that the incumbent Mahama has been in the saddle. First two years was to complete the term of the late Professor Attah Mills, who died while he was president and his four-year first term as elected president, which he is rounding up in the next 6months.
Though relative peaceful so far, a few incidents have drawn attention to the keen nature of the forth coming contest.
A few weeks back, the main opposition leader, Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was caught in a breach when he inadvertently brought in three security experts from South Africa as security personnel and later made them trainers, thus running foul of the country’s stringent security laws, especially at a time like this when issues of terrorism and counter terrorism is very rife globally.
However undeterred the NPP flag bearer, who was ruffled by the deportation of the South Africans, to ease tension, has continued to be vociferous in his mantra of change, which ironically underscores the major thrust of majority of opposition parties in most of Sub Saharan Africa.
Meanwhile, John Dramani Mahama, the incumbent, has anchored his re-election bid on his #Changing lives #Transforming Ghana.
As part of his strategy, the incumbent has started a tour of all the 10 regions in the country, to commission lots of infra structural projects as a way of reminding the people that he has done well.
At a time when the global dip in economies is affecting a lot of countries, especially with the fall in the prices of many commodities world wide, the bite is not lost on a lot of Ghanaians. Many are complaining of rising costs of living, occasioned by incessant increase in the pump price of fuel at a time when Ghana has become an oil producing country, declining agricultural sector, rising unemployment and retrenchments, increasing graft in government amongst other litanies of woes. The issue of corruption in governments was not helped by a damning video released in 2015 by a popular under cover journalist, that caught some magistrates and judges collecting various forms of graft. This caused national and international uproar.
The main opposition NPP has expectedly capitalized on some of the seeming loopholes to push for its being voted into power come November. Nana Akufo-Addo, whose father was also a former President of Ghana, spoke at a function recently.
“ We in NPP have the solution to the problems of our country. We will harness the abundant human and natural resources of our nation to put Ghana on to a much better pedestal than she is at the moment, so we can generate wealth for all Ghanaians and jobs for the teeming masses of unemployed youth... we are coming to work for the prosperity of the nation and not to line our pockets with the wealth of our nation”
However President John Dramani Mahama has continued to defend his policies and recount his achievements. While speaking to a radio station he tactically admitted to the current hardship but promised that the focus of his government in his next term in office is to improve the standard of living of the people of Ghana. He says that the important social, economic and infrastructural foundations have been laid so the country will now enjoy the positive impact of his remarkable policies.
“ The resilience of the economy is seen in the relative stability that we are experiencing. You know what is happening in the world. There is financial crisis going on in the world and I have lived in this country all my life, in most cases where in the past we see a collapse of commodity prices of two of our principal exports the economy has always gone into a tail spin. As I speak we are having a collapse of two of our major exports, gold is down, oil is down and so the single export still sustaining the economy is cocoa, but even cocoa has gone down a bit and yet the economy is not experiencing the kind of shocks it used to experience in the past and that shows you that something is happening in the economy”
Though our independent researches has shown that quite a number of massive infrastructural projects have been embarked upon by the Mahama administration, like the very ambitious four pronged overhead bridges at the Nkrumah Circle in Accra the nation’s capital, in partnership with a Brazilian firm; the long stretch of road from Tema-Sogakope-Akatsi-Aflao roads that leads to the nation’s eastern frontiers with Togo.
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