NDC�s Comedy Of Failures

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will obviously go into the Guinness Book of records as the most untruthful political party ever born on this planet called Earth. It is a party which lies its way into power and sustains power through lies. To the NDC, truth is an Ebola�never to be touched�while lies told by adults and relished by the younger ones in their midst are inseparable companions. Now listen to the NDC in its campaign to grab political power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the year 2008. 1. They promised one-time premium payment for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) when voted into power. This was after they had walked out of Parliament when all this important social policy was being introduced by the Kufuor administration for the good of the vulnerable in the society in particular. By the year 2008 when the policy had become functional and Ghanaians had embraced it fully, the NDC said under their regime, anyone who paid once to register for the policy would benefit for life. What do we see today? The scheme is collapsing even with the yearly payments. 2. At a time when the nation recorded the highest rise in crude oil prices in the history of the industry in 2008 and there were upward adjustments in the ex-pump prices, the NDC promised a drastic reduction in the prices of petroleum products. What do we see today? The highest ex-pump price ever, even though the world price of crude has reduced by about 40%. 3. The NDC shouted �we will put monies in your pocket if you vote for us�. The pockets of many Ghanaians are empty. 4. We will clear all the filth in the cities within 100 days. Six years down the line, the nation is virtually dwarfed by mountains of seemingly unmanageable refuse which have taken almost 200 lives nationwide through cholera. 5. They promised employment opportunities for all those willing and able to work. Today, we have an Association of Unemployed Graduates. The millions of other Ghanaians with varying skills who cannot have any meaningful, decent and sustainable jobs flood our communities with despair boldly written on their faces. 6. We will build 200,000 houses to address the housing deficit; we will offer decent accommodation for the Police and the other Security Agencies. Their biggest achievements in the last six years was to have brought in STX and got President Mills to cut a sod at the Police Depot in Tesano where the houses have still not germinated from the soil. 7. We will improve the country�s education at all levels; yet they just succeeded in improving BECE aggregates from 36 to 42. Anyone can also �pass some�. 8. A promise of 40% of women in government. Hmmmm! It is there for you to see. 9. The NDC said it will generate funds internally and not rely on IMF and the World Bank or foreign loans. Today the nation is enmeshed in foreign debts such that the NDC is priding itself in the knowledge that it can raise loans outside the country. 10. SADA was going to be given GH�200 million every year to address the infrastructural and economic defects in the area. The first tranche of the GH� 200 million disappeared into thin air. The gap between the north and the south keeps widening, except for those individuals who are members of the looting brigade. 11. They promised to eliminate all schools under trees. Today, according to one NDC MP, there are more trees under schools and when there is a storm the schools fall on the trees. 12. The NDC promised a lean but efficient and effective government. Today new ministries are springing up like mushrooms. Non-performing Ministers of State are given places at the seat of government, further increasing government payroll while the same government complains about huge public sector wage bill. 13. The School Feeding Programme is going to be expanded, a promise made by the NDC. Today the programme has collapsed because of government�s indebtedness to the caterers. 14. The NDC government will not introduce any new taxes, we were told. They are using taxes to strangulate the already suffering Ghanaian every passing hour. 15. We were promised the establishment of a Fisheries College. Those of us from the coastal fishing communities are still waiting for the college to learn how to raise herrings in these difficult times when grasscutters have become forbidden delicacies. 16. Our pregnant women and children were promised free nutrient supplements at a time when pregnant women were enjoying free maternal healthcare. These never came, and the existing one has also collapsed. 17. �We will heal wounds and unite the nation; we will make sure there is no NPP and NDC Ghana�, was a promise made by the NDC. One�s survival in Ghana today is founded on membership of the NDC. 18. They promised that membership of public Boards would be re-constituted solely on the basis of competence, eschewing all partisan and familial considerations. Very competent and knowledgeable Board members of public Boards were replaced by foot soldiers who had never operated Akpeteshie bars before as soon as the NDC took power. 19. The NDC pledged to ensure that all appointees declared their assets. It is on record that more than half of the appointees have not done so after being in office for more than two years. 20. �The NDC in power will have no excuse to have power rationing, the adum-dum-adum-dum no begyae.� With the NDC in power, this country has recorded the longest unprogrammed power rationing in its history. Industry is reeling under the adum-dum-adum-dum, small scale businesses are folding up, and commercial activities are virtually grinding to a halt under the NDC. 21. Do you remember they promised to offer 10% of the oil revenue to the Western Region to help develop the region�s infrastructure? The oil money is flowing, but the NDC say they will only develop the Western Region with a Chinese loan. 22. Didn�t the NDC tell us that they will cut down waste and profligate spending? Our dear country has recorded the most officially accepted acts of criminality in procurement in Ghana. More than 95% of government procurements have been sole sourced, with contract sums quadrupled in some cases. 23. �We will prosecute our corrupt ministers and appointees without asking for evidence once newspapers have published wrongdoings against any government appointee.� This was the pious NDC speaking. We all know today that the NDC government has excelled in the act of thievery with impunity. Indeed, some of the thieves are hailed for their bravery in Creating, Looting and Sharing. 24. �We will complete the Kumasi-Accra Road in record time because it is one of the most important trunk roads in this country.� We were told that all state institutions would be strengthened. Today, there is no single state institution in this country that is not suffocating from �financialmylitis�. Government owes every conceivable state institution; many of them are choking to death and have become dysfunctional. This is the reason why Ghanaians have lost trust in many of the state institutions which the NDC promised to strengthen. 25. We were assured of pragmatic measures designed to make life very comfortable for all of us in this country. There is absolutely no doubt that the reverse of this promise is the case today in Ghana. The nation is in pain, its citizens are moaning, there is mourning all over the place, majority of us are yawning and yet President Mahama is constantly on a pleasure trip to reinforce his �yentie obiara� mantra. This is the first time a sitting President has incurred the mistrust of about 40% of the citizenry in a study. It is a sad reflection of the state in which we find ourselves. It has come about because the NDC lied to us and made false promises to sway us into believing and trusting them. Nothing has been given back to us but failed promises. Three shots of the stuff in these hard times will be okay for my stability.