Referring to findings of a recent survey undertaken by world renowned pollsters, Gallup, in 18 African countries, Nana Akufo-Addo said the results showed that under President Mills, 12.7 million people, representing 53 per cent of the entire population, could not afford the cost of food.
In the survey, he said, “those who admitted to living comfortably have dropped from 20 per cent in 2007 to four per cent of the population in 2010”.
Addressing the third international conference of the NPP in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday, Nana Akufo-Addo said, “To put it bluntly, over 8.2 million Ghanaians are saying that they have been delivered a bitter Ghana, instead of a better Ghana.”
Drawing on the Yutong bus allegory, Nana Akufo-Addo said, ‘Rather than the current driver of Ghana’s development vehicle, President Mills, driving ahead and taking the highway to greater freedom and prosperity, the driver has pulled the brakes, turned back, reset the mileage and put back the ‘L’ sign for learner driver.’
“Today, those in charge of the administration of the state have virtually put the brakes on our development vehicle.
We need to take control of the vehicle again, and as quickly as possible. Indeed, even within the circles of the ruling party itself, there appear to be serious divisions of opinion as to the capacity of the current driver of the Yutong bus to take us safely to our destination,” the NPP flag bearer said.
“Today in Ghana, we are living in a poverty-owning democracy, even as more and more Ghanaians fall below the poverty line of $1.35 a day,” he added.
The situation was not acceptable, he said, adding, ‘The very people trumpeting the alleged ‘l care for you’ are the very people worsening the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian each succeeding day. Where is the better Ghana that they promised?”
“A vote for change,” he said, “should not mean a vote for less money in people’s pockets,’ adding that the 2008 vote for change had rather reduced the people of Ghana to an ever-worsening situation of joblessness and hopelessness, with more and more people begging on the streets for small change.
Nana Akufo-Addo, who described Ghana under President Mills as “reeling under the needless weight of a leadership crisis’, cited examples from all three arms of government, saying that ‘for the first time in the history of our 54-year- old Motherland, the Speaker of Parliament was compelled by the behaviour of her own side, the Majority, to walk out from a sitting of Parliament”.
Referring to the Executive arm of government, he said corruption, in-fighting, broken promises and incompetence had become the order of the day.
He said while, ordinarily, the NPP would be happy to remain indifferent to the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC’s) internal issue, “we cannot, however, sit by unconcerned when the all-important affairs of tackling poverty, creating jobs, providing security, fixing our worsening physical infrastructure, investing in the welfare of the young, old and sick are all being set aside in a never-ending struggle to determine who really is in charge’.
He observed that it was not only in the Legislature and the Executive did we sense a crisis, adding, ‘The Judiciary, the defender of our liberties, is under threat as well, facing a constant barrage of intimidation and harassment from agents of government and the ruling party.”
He described the threat against the Judiciary as “a most unwelcome development for Ghanaians, especially regarding the history of judicial assassinations associated with the antecedents of the ruling party”.
In view of the challenges facing the country, Nana Akufo-Addo said, “We, the NPP, therefore, have a great responsibility to restore the hope, trust and confidence of the Ghanaian people in their government. We will have to introduce urgent policies that will put our young people to work.”
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