Mills Is Running Away From Campaign Promises

The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated that President John Atta Mills�s government is running away from its campaign promises as it has denied making any promises to secure the votes of Ghanaians in the last elections. According to the NPP flagbearer, Ghanaians were shocked by the denial of the Mills administration that it promised to drastically reduce fuel prices, subsidise fertiliser for farmers, reduce school fees, pay teachers and other civil servants better salaries and put money in the pockets of Ghanaians. �What do we see today?� he asked, adding that �Those in government tell us that the president didn�t promise putting money in your pockets, he didn�t promise to reduce petrol prices drastically, he didn�t promise to reduce fertiliser prices, and so on and so forth. They are running away from their own shadows.� Nana Addo told teeming party supporters on the first day of his seven-day tour of the Brong Ahafo region in the Tano South District that the NPP government, when given the nod in 2012, would fulfill every campaign promise he made to Ghanaians. He said the NPP had what it took to make good all their campaign promises because the erstwhile Kufuor administration�s unprecedented performance in the annals of the nation�s political history gave credence to the party�s desire to transform the Ghanaian economy. Nana Addo reiterated his desire to revamp the educational sector in the country by establishing a free secondary education for all Ghanaian students, irrespective of their economic background. He said a feasibility study had been undertaken by experts to establish the possibility of the programme. He explained that the cost analyses had also been completed and his government would make sure that the programme was implemented when Ghanaians gave him the mandate to form the next government. According to him, the NDC, then in opposition, doubted moves by the Kufuor government to establish the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). He said the same tenacity and strategy that the NPP used to make the NHIS to come into fruition would be applied to implement the free basic and secondary education. According to him, his government would make teachers the centre of the quality educational programme that his government would establish which would produce well-trained youth to transform the Ghanaian economy to make the country a better place for all. Nana Addo also promised to create an enabling environment for private entrepreneurs to invest in the economy to create more jobs for the youth. As part of his listening tour, Nana Addo took time to interact with residents of the various communities he visited in the district and assured them of better living conditions when elected as the next president of the republic. He also encouraged residents to go out and register when the Electoral Commission opened the voters� register to register eligible voters towards election 2012. The MP for Tano South, Andrews Adjei Yeboah, said he had allotted GH�40,000 for the renovation and construction of a new maternity block for the Techimantia Health Centre. According to him, the eight-year tenure of the NPP regime saw a massive transformation of the Tano South District and urged residents to vote massively for Nana Addo and the NPP in 2012. Members of Nana Addo�s team on the tour include Nana Gabby Nketia, Boakye Agyarko, campaign manager, Lord Commey, director of operations, NPP regional chairman Asomah Cheremeh and his executives, and Yaw Osafo Marfo, a former Minister of Finance.