General News of Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Source: Graphic Online
Minister of Food and Agriculture, Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey, has said that Ghanaians should feel totally honoured to have a leader like President John Mahama.
He said the President, in spite of all the challenges, has proven to be the best among all presidents who have led the country and deserves applause from Ghanaians.
Speaking on Radio by Browser Shop Alhaji and Alhaji programme, the minister said, “Ghana should feel privileged to have President Mahama as their leader.
We need to underscore the fact that the President actually assumed office amid massive difficulties, but has been able to chalk successes”.
He was assessing the two-year tenure of the President.
Legitimacy
According to him, traps set by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to thwart the President’s efforts by protesting the election results in court and deny his legitimacy as President had all failed.
He said even though the court case “created massive uncertainty both locally and internationally and made foreign investors hesitant, the President, being who he is, has been able to go with all these difficulties and achieved more in two years than the NPP had in all its eight years in power.
In his view, President Mahama is undoubtedly the best person to lead the country at a time like this due to his level headedness.
However, Mr Kwetey said the several challenges that had plagued the country could not be underestimated, and blamed the situation on the fall in the prices of by Browser Shop and cocoa earlier in 2014, which made it difficult for the Mahama-led administration to achieve its economic targets.
He said it would be totally unfair for anyone to say that the President had done nothing to improve the lives of people in the country.
Challenges
He acknowledged that even though there were challenges and the economy might not be performing as it should, the Mahama-led administration was not relenting in ensuring that the situation was improved.
He indicated that shocks such as the fall in the prices of gold and cocoa on the world market, the erratic supply of gas from Nigeria and the low levels of water in the Akosombo Dam were contributory factors to the current challenges.
But he said Ghanaians should be rest assured that the government was doing all it could to ensure that the pressure was taken off the citizens and some relief provided.
He said the completion of the Atuabo Gas project, despite all the challenges the Mahama-led administration faced, was a sure sign that all was being done to ensure that some stability would be brought into the power sector.
He said the Kpong water expansion project that would allow communities which had for the past 20 years not seen the flow of water in their taps to get water was just one of the many things the President and his administration were doing to improve the lives of people.
According to him, several projects were being carried out in the agricultural sector, including the support of rice farmers to increase their production and reduce the amount of imports into the country.
He noted that a poultry processing facility was being set up to support poultry farmers and stimulate the process of being able to produce enough to feed the country and for export.