By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, Feb. 7, GNA–Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, says the Government has been able to steer the country out of the economic turmoil it was plunged into due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Notwithstanding the economic crises the nation faced between 2020 and 2022, due to the calm and prudent policies implemented by the Government, Ghana is currently experiencing better economic performance in terms of trade balance, agriculture growth, lending rates, gross international reserves and many other gains,” he said.
The Government had created 2.1 million jobs within seven years whilst its digitalisation programmes had provided relief and easy access to public services to Ghanaians 24 hours a day.
Vice President Bawumia said this at a public forum, dubbed:”Bawumia Speaks” at the Kofi Ohene Konadu Auditorium of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) in Accra on Wednesday.
The event was on the theme: “Ghana’s Next Chapter: Selfless Leadership and Bold Solutions for the Future,” which enabled the NPP Flagbearer for this year’s election to outline his vision and priority policies for the nation.
In attendance were Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the First Lady, Wife of the Vice President, Hajia Samira Bawumia, former President John Agyekum Kufuor, former Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, and Mrs Osei Frema-Opare, the Chief of Staff.
Others include Mr Stephen Ayensu Ntim, the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Justin Kodua Frempong, the NPP General Secretary, former presidential aspirants of the party, ministers of State and members of Parliament, Party Executives, Council of Elders, the diplomatic community and supporters across the 16 regions.
The Auditorium was filled to capacity with the interior decoration magnifying the elephant family colours: red, blue and white.
The NPP Flagbearer used the platform to outline the major achievements of the Akufo-Addo-led Administration and the roles he played to ensure those successes.
He mentioned the Free Senior High School Policy, which had increased secondary education enrolment from 800,000 to 1.4 million, over 11,600 kilometres of road infrastructure, and enrolment of people onto the National Health Insurance Scheme.
The agricultural sector growth through the Planting for Food and Jobs, extension of rural telephony, increase in the number of public Astroturfs from three to 150, construction of six multi-purpose sports stadia, and 200 infrastructure projects in Zongo communities, were among the many solution-based and transformation initiatives.
He said over 90 per cent of Ghanaian adults had mobile money accounts due to the mobile money interoperability, adding: “Anyone can do digital banking 24 hours a day”.
“Ghana is currently ranked first in e-commerce in West Africa and sixth in Africa due to the digitalisation initiatives,” he emphasized.
Dr Bawumia said from 2007 to 2016, only 900,000 GhanaCards were issued, but at the moment 17 million people had been enrolled onto the National Identification System and had obtained their GhanaCards.
Revenue from passports acquisition had increased from GHS11.8 million in 2018 to GHS94 million at present.
On his vision, he pledged to prioritise mechanised modern agriculture and introduce solar power to reduce cost of power consumption.
He promised a golden age of natural resource management through value addition and Ghanaian ownership.
The NPP flagbearer said he intended to implement policies and programmes as President of the Republic of Ghana with not more than 50 ministers and deputy ministers.
GNA