The Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has stated that the massive acceptance of his 24-hour economy proposal has sent shivers down the spines of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The NDC, on February 22 and February 23, held a national policy dialogue at the Peduase Lodge to subject its policy proposals, especially the 24-hour economy, to scrutiny to meet the expectations of Ghanaians.
Addressing the gathering on February 23, Mr. Mahama lashed out at the NPP campaign team for attacking him over his proposal.
Some key members of the NPP have argued that the 24-hour economy lacks clarity, while others also argue that it’s already operational.
Mr. Mahama said, “The widespread acceptance of the 24-hour policy appears to have sent the NPP campaign into a tailspin, leading to a frantic effort to attack it through calumny and disinformation in the last few days.”
“We are fortified in the knowledge that the days when the NPP assumed that they could use falsehood to hoodwink Ghanaians for electoral advantage are over, mainly because of their horrific performance in the last seven years after they were entrusted with the administration of our dear nation, Ghana.”
He asserted that his promises of reducing the size of his government if elected president forced Bawumia to promise the same despite being an integral part of the government.
“I note that my long-espoused pledges to substantially reduce the size of government by having much fewer Ministries, Ministers and appointees, abolish the payment of ex-gratia, scrap taxes like the e-levy and carry out far-reaching constitutional and governance reforms, have compelled my opponent to promise the same despite being front of centre of the poor governance under which all these ills have taken place. I mean business on my promises and intend to keep them.”
He further criticized the NPP flagbearer for attempting to absolve himself of the economic mess.
“There is no room in leadership for excuse-making and flight from responsibility. You cannot make grandiose promises about the economy in 2016 only to be put in charge, run it down, push all of us into suffering and hardships and turn around to say you were only the mate of a reckless driver and, therefore, you should be excused from blame.”
The NDC flagbearer highlighted his performance when he was a vice-president as against the current vice president, stressing that he has a record of taking responsibility unlike Dr. Bawumia.
“Not only do I have a much better and measurable performance record in both my role as Vice President and Head of the Economic Management Team, and later as President, than my leading contender in this year’s elections, I also have a record of taking responsibility. The same cannot be said of my opponent.”
