The promise by the flagbearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to set up a factory in each of the 216 districts of the country is an “empty boast” and “cheap talk”, Majority Leader Alban Bagbin has said.
“It cannot be done even in eight years,” Mr Bagbin said on Class FM Monday June 20.
“It is not feasible,” he asserted, adding: “People should take it with not just a pinch of salt, but with the contempt that it deserves.”
The Nadowli-Kaleo MP said the three-time flagbearer should be “more practical and more realistic”, and “come to earth and try to make the people believe what you are saying”.
In his view, such a vote-buying tactic is one of the reasons that lead people to call politicians “liars”. “…I’m really surprised with this kind of statement; I hope and pray that he never said that…” Mr Bagbin added.
Meanwhile, Mr Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians not to pay heed to the skeptics, who, he said, have always made it a point to bastardise policies and programmes announced by him.
On the last day of his five-day tour of the Central Region, where he first made the promise, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “Anytime I bring an idea, my political opponents will say: ‘He cannot do it’, only to turn round, use the backdoor, and try to implement it.”
The NPP leader explained that “this talk of ‘It can’t be done’ anytime a new idea is proposed by me, is not one that bothers me. It is those who have no vision or clue of how to develop policies to help the Ghanaian people who peddle such stories. These people, clearly, have no business in leadership.”
Reiterating his commitment to the establishment of the Zongo Development Fund, Nana Akufo-Addo urged the residents of Winneba Zongo not to be side-tracked into believing that this pledge cannot be fulfilled, citing examples of policies he introduced in the past, which were described by “experts” and political opponents as not doable.
“When I said I was going to implement the Free SHS policy, Mahama said it cannot be done. But, later, he turned around and tried to implement it,” he said.
Again, the NPP flagbearer noted: “The same way I proposed the Northern Development Authority to help the three northern regions, so as to help bridge the developmental gap between the north and south, there was the usual talk of ‘it cannot be done’, ‘he can’t do it’. Again, he (President Mahama) tried, through the creation of SADA, to implement my idea. He failed woefully at it.”
Nana Akufo-Addo, therefore, urged Ghanaians not to be hoodwinked by this “propaganda”, as it is a clear evidence of persons who have no vision of how to bring progress to Ghana.
According to him, “It is only a good leader who can spot the problems and propose policies to solve the problems to the benefit of Ghanaians.”
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