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The disgraceful contradictory statements in announcing policies (clearly unintended) by the NPP government under Akufo-Addo is costing the country huge fortunes to say the least. This gross super incompetent governance style only witnessed under Akuffo Addo since independence reared its ugly head to the chagrin of the people when within a day both President Akufo Addo and his vice Bawumia contradicted each other about constructing an airport for the people of Cape Coast in the Central Region.
The laughable episode which was not new under this ludicrous Akufo Addo government began 24 hours before the NPP launched its manifesto last Saturday at Cape Coast. Before the event Akufo-Addo was granted interview on ATL Fm where he categorically said the government cannot construct an airport in Cape Coast simply because residents have requested for it. He further noted that the decision to construct such an edifice ought to follow laid down processes including feasibility studies.
However in less than 24-hours the President’s vice Bawumia promised during the manifesto launch that the people of Cape Coast can be assured of their own airport and harbor if the NPP wins the December polls. This conspicuous contradiction of the same government’s position by its top two gentlemen on the subject generated curiosity as to whether that is how the country is being governed under their ‘competent’ stewardship. Subsequently tongues began wagging at whether the decision was a rational one or it is one of the usual premature ejaculation decisions that characterize the current regime.
As if to confirm what many Ghanaians were thinking, the Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen admitted in an interview recently that the two statements of the two obviously confused men among the men NPP claimed to have were taken in the spur of the moment. It is a worrying trend in the Akufo-Addo administration as many key decisions are announced before their feasibility is considered. The revelation from the Kumawood movie behavior of them in Cape Coast showed either the President was not aware of what happens in government and oblivious of what they went there to do or the untenable promise was smuggled into the manifesto at the eleventh hour because they have nothing to offer the people who hosted them for the event. Something must be said to placate them.
It will be recalled Akufo-Addo during the last Presidential debate, and even before then in an interview on the BBC, failed embarrassingly to estimate the cost of the Free SHS he promised if elected into office. The fears of the country were confirmed after the haphazard implementation of the program exposed severe lapses in the policy leading to infrastructural challenges and the eventual collapse of our high school system into a counterproductive double track system. As a result, the recent Free SHS exams which was turned into ‘Apo SHS Exams’ exposed the shoddy output of this Akufo Addo programme.
The one district one factory, one village one dam, one constituency one million dollars and every litany of their one this one that promises were spontaneous campaign utterances that came in the spur of the moment and are therefore proving difficult to implement because there is no proper framework of their conception. It is all about governance as you we see being practiced under the current government, there is no clearly defined policy document on any of their promises, no clearly defined plan, no carefully researched feasibility document on any of their promises etc. As we speak the government is relying on the benevolence of private investors to get a semblance of these factories being a reality. The dams are hand dug wells that contain sand instead of water. There is no one million for any constituency in the country.
It is common occurrence in this government that the President and his cousin Ken Ofori Atta whom he made confidential Finance Minister for obvious reasons always conflict in thought. In one of his meaningless addresses to the nation about covid-19 management in the country, the President announced to the whole nation that he was going to build 88 regional and district hospitals this year. His cousin surprisingly went to parliament later to contradict him saying the 88 hospitals cannot be built this year. Earlier in the year when the covid pandemic entered Ghana, the same President announced he has provided USD100million to fight it. A week later his cousin in charge of Finance appeared to say that money did not exist but rather parliament should permit borrowing it from outside sources.
The silly collapse of the financial sector under this administration exposed the spur of the moment nature within their DNA further. In December 2019 Akuffo Addo announced all depositors of the banks he and his cousin Ofori Atta collapsed would be paid by the end of 2019. Nothing happened; it appeared to be a funny presidential joke that languishing citizens ignorantly took serious. The next announcement of the government on the issue came seven months later when the receiver of collapsed banks, Eric Nana Nipah of PwC, proclaimed on Citi Fm that all affected depositors shall be paid by 31st July, 2020. It is the end of August now yet the suffering depositors denied claims they were paid.
Ghanaians must now be wondering whether the NPP’s promises put before them are anything to go by since the confusion from the top in taking decisions in the spur of the moment are knee jerk, unsustainable, wishy washy, verbose oral productions bereft of mental diligence. Their pronouncements have never stood the test of time.
We should be afraid to join a bus whose driver does not know where his destination is but may just make a u-turn at the crossroads.
The views expressed by the writer are solely his and do not represent the position of Daily Mail GH
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