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What Purpose Is This
To them, the former president who doubles as the flag bearer of the opposition NDC in his entire Eight Years did nothing for Region.
In a statement copied to Peacefmonline.com stated that: “The question we want to ask him is simple; of what purpose is this “speak out tour” going to serve someone who has a dead goat syndrome? We are however convinced that this occasion provides an opportune time for the good people of Sefwi to hold NDC accountable to their pledge in 2008 and 2012.”
They therefore as a matter of agency demand response to the critical issues raised from the former President.
Read full statement below;
MAHAMA AND THE NDC IN THEIR ENTIRE EIGHT YEARS CHEATED THE GOOD PEOPLE OF WESTERN NORTH
We have become aware of former President Mahama’s visit to the Western North Region concerning an engagement dubbed” speak out tour”. This “speak out” engagement we are told is to afford the people an opportunity to freely express their concerns for it to be factored into NDC’s campaign pledge in 2020.
This new region created by the current government cannot prevent such an occasion neither can anyone fault the Organisers for couching the tour as “Speakout” moment with John Mahama.
Once upon a time, Mr.John Dramani Mahama described the good people of Ghana as people with a short memory. Even when he was warned by the electorate to be wary of his reckless governance, he boldly replied:” I have a dead goat syndrome and so I am not moved by such threats”.
The question we want to ask him is simple; of what purpose is this “speak out tour” going to serve someone who has a dead goat syndrome? We are however convinced that this occasion provides an opportune time for the good people of Sefwi to hold NDC accountable to their pledge in 2008 and 2012.
We do recollect that in 2008 when Former President John Dramani Mahama was a running mate to then-candidate late Professor Mills, The NDC led by Late J.E.A Mills promised to give the good people of Western North a separate region when elected into office. Sadly for us, the NDC in their entire eight years vacated the said promise which was made by Late Mills when he staged one of his rallies at Sefwi Dwenase DC Park.
In this piece, we shall highlight on key sensitive areas to demonstrate why the current NDC led by John Mahama shouldn’t be considered again in so far as elections in this country are concerned. These are cataloged according to sectors.
AGRIC SECTOR
It is an indisputable fact that Western North contributes about 40% of our annual cocoa produce in Ghana. This is the very reason why former President John Agyekum Kuffour introduced the cocoa mass spraying policy.
The said policy which was neglected by both Mills and Mahama helped a lot of poor farmers who had their cocoa farms sprayed without paying a dime. As a result of this policy coupled with the equal distribution of fertilizers to farmers, the country saw an increase in the tonnage of cocoa produce in 2010-2011.
It is also not in doubtful doubt that in 2001 when President Kuffour took over, our tonnage of cocoa produce as a country which stood at 250, O00 witnessed an upward adjustment of 850,000 tonnages in 2008 crop year.
When we thought the NDC could come and better credible policies initiated by former President Kuffour, they instead, left it to rot and failed to continue the powerful initiatives introduced by former President Kuffour.
We are also aware of the fact that the cocoa board under former President Kuffour recruited a lot of extension officers who were tasked to educate our farmers on how to apply fertilizers and others. These extension officers left the job because NDC led by Mahama failed to pay them.
It is worthy of note that, in 2019, the leadership Of Nana Akufo Addo mindful of the usefulness of extension officers to the ordinary farmer has employed three thousand extension officers to augment the few ones in the system. At the end of it all, the farmer in western North is going to benefit from the tutorials these officers are going to give to farmers which would also translate into good yield for the betterment of Ghana.
As we are all aware, the NDC in their entire eight years, they failed to introduce cocoa productivity enhancement policies such as Cocoa pollination, artificial irrigation dams, and cocoa rehabilitation programs. This government has been able to introduce items listed above in less than four years which has resulted in a cumulative benefit to our farmers.
The NDC and John Mahama must tell us a single cocoa enhancement policy they have in mind for which reason they think we should give them another chance.
THE ROAD SECTOR
Our roads are supposed to be portable and durable which should be able to stand the test of time. The very few roads constructed in 2015 and 2016 specifically Bopa Junction to fordjourkrom, sefwi Dwenase to number two have all developed “man-holes” making the roads impassable. Some of these roads as we speak have all been peeled off within three years. Sums of money have been sunk into these roads yet, there is absolute” nothing to ride home about”.
We also note that an amount of Ghc115m was committed to the Dwenase to No.2 road in 2015 as a cocoa road. The entire stretch as we speak looks like a road constructed in 1952. Even common urine on it would show you and I how poor the construction was. A road constructed in less than five years cannot peel off just like that. Mr. John Mahama and the NDC have a lot of questions to answer in the few days ahead.
Mahama’s road in western North Region was a complete scam “Medofo adada me roads”
On the Sefwi Dwenase town road constructed under J.J Rawlings which was able to stand the test of time for twenty years has completely eroded as a result of the asphalt which was put on the road in 2016. The fact of the matter is that, if they had no put the questionable asphalt on the road, the sefwi Mpomem stretch wouldn’t have gone bad as we see.
Mr. John Mahama and the NDC as part of their “speak out tour” should be able to tell us why the few roads constructed under their tenure have all deteriorated.
What is so disturbing is that even roads constructed under former President Rawlings and Kuffour’s regime are all in good shape. The same was constructed as far back as 2000, 1990, 2004, and 2008. If we are to do a passionate comparison in respect of those roads and the ones constructed under Former President Mahama, we are going to see differences in them in terms of durability and portability.
HEALTH SECTOR
The good people of Western North have cried over the years concerning inadequate medical facilities. As a result of this challenge, President Kuffour together with the minister of health, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie began the construction of a modernized clinic at Sefwi Nsawora, Bia East hospital and Sefwi Asawinso respectively. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Kuffour left office in 2009 at the time these projects were almost at the completion stage.
When the NDC took over, in their entire eight years, they never touched the project.
They left it at the mercy of the sun when the good people of Sefwi Asawinso and Nsawora were battling with medical facilities. It is instructive to note further that, this government within the few years has been able to touch and almost completing the health sectors they abandoned in their entire eight years
We are not seeking to hold a brief for any political party. Our mandate is to hold public office holders accountable to their stewardship and propagate the message to the good people.
EDUCATION
It is so sad that, in the eight entire years of the NDC, cocoa farmers were not able to access scholarships for their wards. The difficulty in accessing the facility demotivated a lot of our farmers to the extent that, they were selling their cocoa farm just to raise funds to support the educational needs of their kids. Today as we speak, the government under the leadership of Akufo Addo has been able to extend the accessibility of this package to the doorstep of the ordinary farmer.
The national scholarship secretariat has been able to decentralize this package to the various districts across the country. In the free SHS regime, tertiary students are getting support from the government. Aside from the decentralization, there is also a significant upward enrolment of beneficiaries.
We have an average figure of hundred beneficiaries across the various districts In Ghana, particularly on this scholarship package. This we note was never made available under the Mills-Mahama administration.
Before we end, we want to remind Mr. John Mahama that, the good people of Western North have our memories intact. We have not lost our memories and so we are asking him to respond to the critical issues we have raised in this write-up.
Thank You all for coming. God bless our homeland Ghana and make our Nation create and strong.
Signed
Harry Addo
President
Tel:0591942921
