President Akufo-Addo says if Ghanaians give him a second term, he would use it to build on the foundation laid during his first term to industrialise the country.
According to him, he has been faithful to Ghanaians and urged the electorate to re-elect him based on his achievements. President Akufo-Addo, who was speaking in an interview on a local radio station in Koforidua and monitored by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), explained that illegal mining, the plastic waste menace, and land guards were not easy issues to be resolved, but what was important was to create the conditions for their gradual eradication.
He said the government had already introduced the community mining system, which had employed a lot of the illegal miners. The President said the government had also initiated alternative livelihood programmes in the mining communities, and it was expected that as the economies of those communities improved, many of the people in illegal mining would be attracted to join other sectors of the economy.
The President gave the assurance that the affordable housing project, started in Koforidua during the era of President Kufuor, and the Kwahu East District Hospital, started by the government of President Mahama, would be completed. He gave the assurance that all those who invested in the collapsed financial institutions would be paid by the end of this month. GNA
Meanwhile, our Eastern Regional Correspondent, Isaac Akwetey, is also quoting the President as saying during the same radio interview that “Constructing roads, building hospitals, planting food and jobs are not cheap projects, they are actually very expensive and the country needs a stronger economy to accomplish all of that, and that is exactly what my government is working towards.”
On the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Nana Akufo-Addo stated that he had revived the Scheme, which was practically worthless at the time he took over the reins of the country.
However, because of the thoughtfulness and efficient measures put in place, the NHIS is back to life, and every citizen is benefitting from the scheme. He said that people now have the right to use the card in hospitals, and it is very effective.
Responding to comments that the free water and electricity was an attempt to win power come this year’s elections, the President explained that giving out free water and electricity for a period of three months was not to win votes, but rather to lift some burdens from the ordinary Ghanaian.
According to him, his government deemed it necessary and important to take off some loads from the heads of Ghanaians during this difficult time.
“This is being done because the pandemic has brought a great deal of difficulties to the people of Ghana. The first responsibility of government is to protect the people, especially in times of difficulty. A government which is not able to do that in times of difficulty, in my view, isn’t a government worth staying with.”
The President averred that the free water and free electricity were necessary to protect the Ghanaian people at this stage, but not necessarily to win votes.
“A caring government is a government, when things become difficult for his people, will step in because of good policies and efficient management to be able to protect the people, and that’s what we have done.”
“If our economy had not been strengthened in the three years before the pandemic broke out, these measures you are talking about would have been very expensive and impossible to provide – free water, free electricity and free meals. All these are indications of the strength of the Ghanaian economy before the pandemic.”
The post I’ll use my 2nd term to industrialise Ghana -Prez appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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