2020 polls: Mahama deceiving himself – Ex-Member of Parliament

Ghanaians have not forgotten the hardship that the John Mahama administration plunged them into and will, therefore, not give him and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) another chance to mess up the country in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections, Mr Benjmain Ayeh, a former MP for Denkyira West, has said.

He explained that under Mr Mahama’s administration, the country came to a standstill due to bad policies.

“Nurses, teachers, doctors worked for years without being paid, but when the NPP came into office, these professionals have been paid.

“The NDC cancelled teacher and nurse trainee allowances ushering the students into severe difficulty. The NPP has restored the allowances. We haven’t forgotten about dumsor under the NDC. Now we don’t have dumsor anymore,” Mr Ayeh said on the Ghana Yensom show on Accra 100.5 FM on Monday, 25 February.

He added: “Apart from the traditional things that every government does, including building schools, roads, hospitals and water, what new things were they able to do? Nothing.”

“In just two years of the Akufo-Addo administration, a lot of projects that directly affect the lives of Ghanaians have been introduced: the free senior high school programme, One District-One Factory, railways restored, Planting for Food & Jobs and several initiative.

“These are some of the things we have thought of outside the box, not the ones every government does. So, as we are fixing their mess, we are introducing more programmes. Just recently, mining company AngloGold Ashanti has been restored to provide jobs for the people of Obuasi. So, Mr Mahama is deceiving himself thinking that Ghanaians have forgotten his failures. We haven’t forgotten the 44 per cent he got in the elections even as an incumbent president. He is no match for the NPP.”

Also commenting on the same show was Mr Tetteh Catenor, the NDC’s parliamentary candidate for the La Dadekotopon Constituency in the 2016 elections, who said most of the things the government is boasting of cannot be found on the ground.

He said: “The cedi is failing, the factories are nowhere to be found. They said they will give every constituency one million dollars, One Village-One Dam. But all these have not been produced.

“We acknowledge that we are two years in their administration but they have failed so far.”

The NDC on Saturday, 23 February elected former president John Dramani Mahama as its flag bearer for the 2020 elections.

Mr Mahama garnered more than 95 per cent of votes cast in the election.

In his victory speech to the party, Mr Mahama said: “Tonight, I want to serve notice to Ghana that from the outcome of this election, the NDC is strong. The NDC is united. The NDC is poised for victory in 2020. And nothing, absolutely nothing can stop our march towards [the] Flagstaff House.”

The victory, Mr Mahama said, “Is a call to duty, a call to action and a call to battle”, adding that: “I wish that this fire will keep on burning”.

He urged the party to “eschew all attempts to divide us”.

“I will work closely with all of you so that our common objective of returning to power would be achieved. I salute all our executives. It is my hope that we will work together and eschew all attempts to divide us. Let us trust each other and let us not believe the kind of stories we circulated creating an impression that we are against each other,” he added.

Source: ghanaweb.com