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The main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is set to embark on a ‘massive’ demonstration tagged ‘Won Gbo’ (we are dying) demonstration.

The protest which is to be held on 18th February, 2015, is to express displeasure at how government is tackling the energy crisis in the country.

The country is currently in darkness under a crippling load-shedding exercise which has persisted for a very long time. It has worsened in the past few weeks with consumers enjoying only 12 hours of electricity and 24 hours of darkness.

It is not clear yet when the 'dumsor' will come to an end; however, the Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor says it will come to an end by December 2015.

At a press conference held on Tuesday, 10th February, 2015, the General Secretary of the party, Kwabena Agyepong said the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration has given enough evidence to prove that they cannot solve the challenges facing the country.

According to him, they (government) have shown consistently that they don’t have answers to the ongoing power crisis or the economic challenges facing the country

“Ghanaians are not happy with how government is managing the ongoing power crisis. I don’t think government understands what Ghanaians are going through…And the worst is they don’t  even want to explain or indicate when the issue will be resolved…and so we will be embarking on this demonstration to express our displeasure…we need to show them that we are not happy with how they are handling the situation…” he stated.


Below is the full statement

NPP’s “Won Gbo” Demo February 18, 2015

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press,

We thank you all for honouring this invitation.

At the beginning of the year, we pledged to the good people of Ghana that, we shall be holding the Mahama led government accountable, by ensuring that, our country’s scarce resources are utilized in a manner that will benefit all and bring relief to Ghanaians.

This morning, we caused a letter to be sent to the Minister of Transport, requesting for the full details of the Kumasi Airport rehabilitation project. I am sure most of you know all about that project.

Exactly a week ago today, the NPP expressed our deepest disappointment with the lukewarm response of the government to the power crisis. Ghanaians have watched in horror as their social economic lives continue to deteriorate. Our currency, the Cedi, has depreciated almost 300% since 2009 when the NDC took over the reins of government.  Cost of borrowing has rocketed to over 30%with extremely negative impact on the major sectors of the economy like manufacturing and agriculture.

In addition, Ghanaians today are paying one of the highest pump prices for petrol in the world despite the fact that the world market price has plummeted to below $50. The government continues to show their inability to deal with the energy crisis. When we were leaving in 2009, we bequeathed them with enough generating capacity. So the question cannot be that of generating capacity. It is more of poor management of our power sector

This situation becomes all the more mind boggling when we consider the massive amount of resources that has been available to this administration over the last 6yrs.

We want to re-echo some of the data our party’s running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, put out in Tamale recently

Between 2009 and 2014, The NDC government borrowed the equivalent of some $27 billion, which is more than four (4) times the amount of money the NPP borrowed during its 8yrs in power.

The NDC government collected GHC62billion as tax revenue in the last six years, which is in contrast to the NPP’s GHC15.2 billion between 2001 and 2008

A similar comparison can be made with regards to Gold and Cocoa export. In the same period (6yrs), the NDC has exported $14.5billion worth of cocoa as against $8.7billion in the 8yrs period of the NPP.

The export of Gold in the 8years of the NPP amounted to $9billion, whereas, in the 6years of the NDC, Gold export amounted to $25billion.

Moreover, no government in our history has had the benefit of oil revenue, except the current NDC administration. The total amount of revenue accruing from this source is something they (NDC) are uncomfortable to clarify. However, it is estimated that Ghana has exported some $13.7billion in the last 4years.

Despite these significant inflows, the Mahama led government continues to default in statutory payments like the NHIS, GETFUND, and the DISTRICT ASSSEMBLY COMMON FUND, which are all several months in arrears.

And to cap it all, we have an energy crisis of monumental proportions with no end in sight despite countless assurances from President Mahama since 2012.

The businesses artisanal Ghanaians, seamstress, tailors, vulcanizers, welders, sprayers, barbers, printing presses and many others have been hit extremely hard. At our health facilities the situation is extremely precarious with several death attributed to the frequent outages.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as a responsible political stakeholder, the NPP considers it a national duty to bring the deep suffering of the Ghanaian people and the intolerable state of affairs today to the attention of this government, which is obviously incompetent, insensitive and uncaring.

We commence that struggle with a street protest on next Wednesday 18th of February in Accra.

We call on all Ghanaians of different shades of opinion including our NDC brothers, civil societies, labour unions, market women, unemployed youth, barbers, tailors, hairdressers etc. to join us on that day in order to send a clear message to the government that indeed, “won gbo”, we are dying.

 

Thank You