Nana Addo’s Policies Made Ghana Fourth Happiest Country - Nana Boakye

Dennis Amfo-Sefah, the Tema West Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has touted the positive impact of the Akufo-Addo government saying Ghana’s current rank as the fourth happiest country in West Africa is a testimony to that effect.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Accra, Mr Amfo-Sefah, who is popularly called Nana Boakye, said the improvement in the mood of the country was not surprising because the various policy ingredients that President Akufo-Addo was implementing were meant to achieve that single purpose.

“As the saying goes, leadership is cause, everything else is effect. If we are the fourth happiest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is because we have a leader who is implementing policies that are making the country a happy place to live in.”

Nana Boakye touted President Akufo-Addo’s Free Senior High School programme, which had removed fees as an impediment against enrolment into High schools and a host of other on-going programmes, as direct contributors to the upliftment in the mood of Ghanaians.

“There is, of course, also the NABCO programme, which has provided temporal jobs for unemployed University graduates, Planting for Food and Jobs, which has resulted in a bumper harvest this year and the decrease in taxation which made it easier to start businesses in Ghana,” Nana Boakye said.

He said the President’s conflict fighting policies, are giving people hope, citing the resolution of the protracted Dagbon conflict as an example. “Now Northern Ghana has become significantly peaceful because of the ending of the Dagbon crisis,”.

Also, he said, the commencement of the programmes such as “One Village, One Dam,” “One District, One Factory,” and “Youth in Afforestation” which has replanted some 10million trees in Ghana’s depleted forest cover have become sources of reassurance to people that the future is bright.

“If today, Ghana is the fourth happiest country in West Africa, it is because our leader is meeting and even exceeding the expectations of citizens,” Nana Boakye said.

Ghana has been ranked the fourth happiest country in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The ranking contained in the World Happiness Report released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations on March 20, saw Ghana improve her ranking to 99 from 108 (2018) in the global ranking of 156 countries.

In the Sub-Saharan African ranking, Ghana placed fourth behind Mauritius (57), Nigeria (85) and Cameroon (96) in the top five which was completed by neighbouring Ivory Coast (99).

The ranking was computed based on an average of three years of surveys taken by Gallup between 2016 and 2018 and included factors such as gross domestic product, social support from friends and family, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceived corruption and recent emotions of citizens -- both happy and sad.

With the ranking coming from highly respected independent survey entity, Mr Amfo-Sefah said the ranking rubbished impressions that the opposition had been creating to the effect that the country has become harder.

“A Prophet is not appreciated in his own home, but those who observe from afar never fail to marvel at his miracles,” Nana Boakye said.