ASSESS FEASIBILITY OF POLITICAL PROMISES — JOHN MAHAMA (PAGE 16)

THE Vice Presidential aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama, has appealed to Ghanaians to critically assess the feasibility of the promises made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) so that they would not be taken for granted again.
According to him, the NPP made a number of unrealistic promises such as employment for most of the unemployed youth during the 2000 and 2004 elections which they did not fulfil, and added that Ghanaians should now be able to assess the genuineness of such promises.
This, he noted, would enable them to know which party to vote for, adding that the NDC, which according to him, had been able to live up to its promises was the best party to be supported to win the December elections.
“The NPP made a lot of promises such as the creation of jobs for the large number of unemployed, made up of migrants from the rural areas to urban centres loitering the streets in all corners of the country”, he said.
Such a sad situation, he explained, could be attributed to the collapse of local industries as a result of which many people lost their jobs which had increased the crime rate in the country.
Addressing a durbar of NDC faithful at Akyem Oda on Saturday, Mr Mahama, who was on a campaign tour of the Eastern Region, persistently stated “we should not allow ourselves to be deceived by the NPP’s vain promises of creating a better future for us”.
Mr Mahama, who was accompanied by some executives of his party, including its National Organiser, Mr Ofosu Ampofo; Eastern Regional Chairman, Mr Julius Debrah; Parliamentary candidate for Navrongo Central, Mr Mark Woyongo; Commodore Stephen Obimpe, a former Minister of Health, Mr Kofi Mintah, Central Regional Minister, used the occasion to introduce the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Kojo Atta-Krah, to the people.
“If the NPP claims it believes in Ghana, why should it offer foreign companies and investors contracts that could equally be competently handled by local industries and investors?”, he asked.
Explaining his point, Mr Mahama pointed out that the various materials such as T-shirts, cups, hats and other paraphernalia that cost the country millions of dollars and were used to celebrate its golden anniversary were entirely designed and produced by Chinese and Japanese companies, when some of our local industries could have equally done them at a low cost?
He intimated that “our presidential palace is currently being constructed by an India firm, without any regard to the security implication to the state”, adding “even our territorial waters and many of the country’s roads as well as other major infrastructural projects are also being undertaken by Chinese and other foreign companies”.