Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that the time has come for Ghanaians to decide on their fate whether to go back into the era of untold hardships with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or maintain the social interventions they are enjoying with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on December 7.
He recounted that the people of Ghana encountered five years of “dumsor”, youth unemployment, non functioning ambulance service, arbitrary increase in utility and the absence of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) like chalk among others which brought a lot of hardship on Ghanaians.
Against this backdrop, he said President Akufo-Addo appealed to the people of Ghana to give him the chance to change the fortunes of Ghanaians which Ghanaians did by giving him the mandate which he has delivered to satisfaction.
Dr. Bawumia made the Statement when addressing a durbar held in his honour by the chiefs and people of Atobiase as part of his two-day visit to the Western Region.
According to him, the NPP Government pursued a vigorous agenda to bring relief to the people of Ghana such as the free SHS policy, 1D1F, restoration of teacher trainee and nurses trainee allowances, planting for food and jobs, cocoa interventions and producer price increase among others.
Dr. Bawumia pointed out that the Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been overwhelming gaining global recognition and commendation with the free provision of water and electricity, COVID-19 alleviation fund to business owners, tax rebates and free meals to the populace during the lockdowns and to students.
Nana Opiah Mensah, Acting Chief of Wassa Atobiase who gave the welcome address commended the NPP Government for the unprecedented infrastructural development in the area for a short time the party has been in government.
He advocated for the construction of a senior high school for the area since the area is far from the district capital, Daboase where they have a senior high school.
He called for the provision of a mobile telecommunication network which has eluded the area and making it difficult to make calls and use internet services.
He also reminded him of the construction of a bridge on the Pra River to connect the residents to the neighbouring towns which makes it difficult for the children to cross during school days, as promised by President Akufo-Addo some time ago.
Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of COCOBOD noted that the free SHS policy has benefited the majority of Ghanaians without which many children would have been dropped out and called on the people to vote for the continuation of the policy.
Touching on cocoa production, he announced that the cocoa pruning and hand pollination initiative introduced by the Government has tremendously changed cocoa production in the country bringing a big relief to farmers.
He urged the people not to take the National Democratic Congress’ ( NDC) propaganda of free fertilizer and said that could not be achieved when they were in government and cannot do it now, hence the need to ignore them.
He touched on the compensation package given to cocoa farmers whose farms had been affected by the swollen shoot disease and said that was a huge investment of the NPP Government towards cocoa production.
He hinted that fifty-thousand youths will be engaged to embark on the cocoa tree cutting exercise to rid the farms of the dreaded swollen shoot disease for a replant.
He added that the cocoa pension scheme has been vigorously pursued to give a befitting retirement package to cocoa farmers in the country.
Mr Wilson Arthur, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Wassa East touted his achievements in the education and skills training sector and said scholarships have been given to students to further their education to higher levels and livelihood empowerment programs.
He mentioned that the District has benefitted from two of the One-District, One-Factory (1D1F) initiative programs which is expected to create a number of employment opportunities for the teeming youth.
He contended that his administration has seen a lot of infrastructural developments in the three years that he has been in office.
Among the projects he mentioned are provision of potable water, construction of access roads, provision of skills development center and improvement in mobile telecommunications network among others.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
