We are not making these criticisms against the President, his government and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) because we hate the NDC or we hate Mahama. We are making them because we love Ghana better. We are concerned about today and the future of our country.�
These were the words of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday, when he rounded off his Thank You tour at Sogakope in the Volta Region ahead of the October 18 presidential primary contest of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Addressing the delegates who voted in the August 31, 2014 Special Electoral College which delivered an overwhelming 80.81 per cent victory for him, Nana Akufo-Addo told the delegates that nearly 60 years after independence, �our country should be much further down the road than where it is today.�
Under the John Mahama-led NDC government, Nana Addo explained, Ghana was witnessing a �meltdown and a breakdown of its social security system, directly the result of mismanagement and widespread corruption.�
�All of us today have seen the direct link between corruption and mismanagement and the difficult conditions that we are having in our country today. If you don�t have any cash because you have mismanaged the economy, you cannot fulfil your statutory payments. So today the District Assemblies Common Fund is in arrears, by three quarters.
If the District Assemblies Common Fund are in arrears do you know what it means? There is no money to collect garbage and sanitation is going down. Are you then surprised by the outbreak of cholera?� he asked.
He continued, �There is shortage of cash so you cannot meet your obligations to the GETFund, District Assemblies Common Fund and School Feeding. You cannot pay nurses and teachers their allowances. Even chalk in our public schools has become an issue.�
Nana Akufo-Addo noted that �our nation is desperate for change�, assuring Ghanaians that an NPP government, under his leadership, would restore confidence to the Ghanaian economy and ensure a decent standard of living for all Ghanaians.
�We will establish a competent government drawing from talents from all sides of the NPP and all regions of the country. We will put together a formidable team. We did it in [President] Kufuor�s time, we are going to do it again,� he emphasised, much to the approval and delight of the delegates gathered, who gave him a rapturous applause.
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