Ghanaians are living under hard times - NPP

13/01/12
THE opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that contrary to claims by President Mills that his administration has brought relief to the people, Ghanaians are living under hard times which are compounded by unprecedented hikes in the prices of goods and services.
It claimed that from school fees, the cost of balls of kenkey, rent, transport fares, utility fares to fuel prices, everything had gone up between 50 to 150 per cent, bringing untold hardship to the ordinary people of Ghana who were promised an action year under the Better Ghana Agenda.
The Spokesperson for the NPP Communications Team, Nana Akomeah, stated this at a press conference to react to answers given by President Mills to questions posed to him by some senior journalists and editors at the third annual media encounter since he assumed office in 2009.
President Mills answered questions on the performance of his administration last year, which he had declared an ‘action year’, the Woyome judgement debt saga, funding for the Electoral Commission, among others.
Nana Akomeah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, used price increases on general goods and services in one of the communities in his constituency, Bubiashie, to indicate that prices had generally gone up drastically since the inception of the Mills administration.
He said contrary to the Action Year mantra for the 2011, the year turned out to be a “wahala” one and said former President Rawlings had described 2011 under President Mills as “stagnant”.
He explained that as per the benchmark set by Mr Koku Anyidoho for the ‘Action Year ‘ in 2011, none was met and mentioned standards for measuring the ‘Action Year’ to include the construction of the Volta and Brong Ahafo universities, the Eastern Corridor roads, the Cape Coast Kotokoraba Market and the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.
Nana Akomeah said apart from the fact that none of the projects had either been started or was under construction, the much talked about and unprecedented STX housing, which the President had cut the sod for it to commence, was also in limbo.
He indicated that unfortunately, after several pieces of advice from the NPP to the government to tread cautiously in offering a sovereign guarantee to the STX partners, as well as raising the hopes of Ghanaians and particularly personnel of the security agencies, the project could not see the light of day.
Nana Akomeah said although the Mills administration had received over $6 billion in loans for various projects and programmes, there was nothing to show for it, noting that the two most visible projects going on in the country were the Mallam-Tetteh Quarshie Highway and the Bui Dam which started during the Kufuor regime.
He expressed surprise that the President would claim ignorance over the payment of GH¢58 million to Mr Alfred Woyome because correspondence among all the governmental agencies involved in the payment indicated that copies of the letters had been sent to the Office of the President.
He noted that the dimension that the Woyome issue had taken was worrying because while the President had no problem with the payment but was asking EOCO to look for the way the liability had occurred, the Attorney-General, who is the legal advisor to the President, was challenging Mr Woyome’s claim of having signed a contract with the government to warrant the payment of that amount.