Don’t be swayed by the vile propaganda — Akufo-Addo

The presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has toured about 10 communities within three constituencies in Accra, with a call on the people not to be swayed by the vile propaganda of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He said the NDC with all the opportunities and time they had at their disposal could not do anything substantial to develop the economy of the country but had turned around to tell lies about the unprecedented development achieved by the NPP administration.
Nana Akufo-Addo who made the call also introduced the party’s parliamentary aspirants for Weija, Ablekuma Central and Ablekuma South constituencies , Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey,Mr Robert Sarbah and Nana Akomea.
The tour was also interspersed with rallies.
Nana Akufo-Addo said from a tattered economy in 2001, the NPP government under the leadership of President J. A. Kufuor had been able to restructure the country and put it in a position where it is ready to take off.
He said it would be disastrous to give back the management of the economy to the NDC.
"In 2001, when we were coming to power, the NDC confessed that the economy was so bad that they wonder how the NPP would pay salaries and manage it. To their utmost surprise, we have resuscitated it. Why should we entrust the economy into the hands of such a political party," he added.
Nana Akufo-Addo said if the NPP had the opportunity to govern the country for 19 years like the NDC and its antecedent, PNDC did, the country would have been developed.
At Weija, he said due to bad planning, especially by military regimes in the heat of the population explosion in Accra, the development of Accra had lagged behind.
He said the Kufuor Administration had taken bold steps to address the problems of Weija and other communities with similar problems, and promised to ensure that he would continue with all that the current NPP administration could not bring to fruition.
He announced that the NPP government had secured a loan from France to build a dual carriage road to replace the main road and some arterial roads in the constituency, and added that actual tarring of the road would start in January 2009.
Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his position that education remained the most powerful tool to galvanise the people for accelerated national development and individual advancement.
He said it was for this reason that the NPP administration had made basic education free, even when the opposition NDC said that was not feasible, and added that "In my time as President of Ghana, we will again find the resources to make secondary education free".
A former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, said at the end of the 19 year-rule of the PNDC/ NDC, the country’s foreign reserve was only $ 300 million, but with sound economic policies, the current foreign reserve stood at $ 2.6 billion.
He said under the NDC Administration, when world crude oil prices moved from $18 per barrel to $36, inflation stood at 41 per cent, however from $25 to $140, the NPP had managed the inflation, which currently stood at 18 per cent.
He said this showed the difference between the bad governance of the NDC and the good one of the NPP.