Member of parliament for Wa Central, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has revealed that the next NDC administration under the leadership of John Dramani Mahama will revamp the country.
According to him, the current economic challenges endured by Ghanaians is as a result of the mismanagement by the current administration.
He indicated that although the NDC hasn’t come up with a comprehensive manifesto yet, there are basic things it cannot keep quiet about.
Dr Pelpuo stated that John Dramani Mahama is committed to addressing and improving the education sector which will be achieved by reviewing the entire system. Again, he stated that Mr Mahama is committed to providing adequate response to the challenges within the education sector.
“We also said that we are going to revamp the economy because we have been drawn back 30 years and we have lost the confidence of the public, economic community and our friends around us. We need to show that we can catch up… Where we’ve gotten to, we need to raise the foundation before we can build up.
“The key thing is about revamping this economy – that’s the key idea about the 24-hour economy, where we get people working. We don’t have to think that to keep an economy functioning, we need to go somewhere and get money for that.”
Dr Rashid Pelpuo
Furthermore, Dr Pelpuo noted that in terms of production in agriculture, Ghana must get to a place of self-reliance. He explained that imports should only be a consideration to complement local production.
“So, we’ll keep the economy up and running, we will make sure we keep the security system and every other issue on our agriculture, especially in the production of cocoa – the key thing that makes Ghana what it is, every single aspect of it is properly organized in manners that can help develop this nation.”
Dr Rashid Pelpuo
Reacting to the state of the country’s economy and “failed” promises made by the NPP flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr Pelpuo revealed that he is seeing a “declining economy, a confused governance system, where citizens are losing their rights and can even die without enough concern by government”.
Additionally, he indicated that the economy is strangulated and at a point where the country can only “go back and not forward”.
“It’s a very sad story of a people who came to power, believing that they are going to change the economy, make people happy, develop the private sector and create jobs for people, only for us to see what is happening. I recall when the NDC lost, there was a cry against us that the economy was growing at a small rate of 3.7%, inflation was at 18.4%, cedi was depreciating to GHC3.8 to a dollar and these were all concerns.
“Today, we are struggling to reach even 3% growth, and we are struggling to manage inflation which is at 35.2% now and the cedi is not stable… So, this is the stagnation and drawback to our progress I’m talking about. We can’t have our leaders run the government of Ghana this way… We can’t have them make huge promises to the people and fail us this much.”
Dr Rashid Pelpuo
Failed promises of Dr Bawumia
Meanwhile, Dr Pelpuo admitted that although politicians are not “superhuman beings”, where the failures such as the one encountered by Ghanaians under Vice President, Dr Bawumia, are persistent, consistent, and are not recognized by the same people, it becomes a problem.
“Look at all the promises made and uttered by His Excellency Dr Bawumia, and all the impudence about it. He talked about how he wouldn’t need to go borrow money, look at the situation we find ourselves now. Now, about 100% of debt to GDP and he is still making those kinds of promises. So, they don’t get a feel of their failure…”
Dr Rashid Pelpuo
Moreover, the Wa Central legislator emphasized that Dr Bawumia has no right to be criticizing John Mahama and also “making fun of John Mahama’s 24-hour economy”, especially with his past records as a Vice President.
“He was saying this is something that is not doable and that it is not a good policy. Meanwhile, while he is talking about it not being good, he is the same person talking about the fact that it’s already operating in some places… It’s so funny that such a person, supposed to be a highly respected economist will fail in everything that he promises…”
Dr Rashid Pelpuo
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