<<Print>>President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday touted the achievements made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government since they took over the administration of the nation in 2009.
The president touched on sectors including education, health, water and sanitation, security, transportation and energy. President John Dramani Mahama was addressing the nation in an event dubbed “Accounting to the People.”
The programme was held at the Banquet Hall- State House in Accra.
Education
On education, President John Mahama said about 1,616 projects have been constructed for basic schools in the country. He said because of such projects, most schools in Accra have abolished the shift system of education.
He said government among other things also distributed free textbooks and exercise books to school children as well as uniforms, shoes and sandals for school kids.
President Mahama also said some boarding schools will be enrolled unto the Progressive free SHS programme.
Health
The health sector according to President Mahama is one of the sectors government has invested heavily in. He disclosed that government is transforming the Ridge hospital to become the Greater Accra Regional hospital.
He said as part of efforts to facilitate the process, government is currently building a 640-bed capacity facility for the Ridge Hospital.
NHIS hasn’t collpased
He also refuted claims that the NHIS programme has collapsed.
Housing
On housing the President said government is constructing about 5,000 housing units at Saglami near Prampram in the Greater Accra region.
Water and Sanitation
President Mahama explained that about 76 percent of Ghanaians have access to clean water. He cited the Teshie desalination project and other water projects executed by the government as contributing to such succcess.
Transportation
He added that an intracity buses system will be commissioned soon to serve Ghanains in urban areas. “Soon you will be seeing them on the roads. Its an e-card facility. We have to become and e-society and reduce the use of cash,” he added.
He also sad a new Sekondi train station is almost completed which will be commissioned. He said government has also upgraded the Kumasi airport adding that work on the Tamale airport is also progressing in earnest saying work on its runway will be completed soon.
Energy
The president says the country is in the current power crisis because it has failed to meet the generation capacity. He says his government is adding more units of megawatts to shore up the generation in order to meet the power demands of the people. He cites the Asogli plant which he says is in its phase two. He also cites the Karpower ship which is ready to start working and to add more megawatts. According to him the first part of Kpone Thermal plant has been commissioned which will provide 100 plus megawatts to the generation. He says the country has signed a number of MOUs with IPP to provide about 3600 megawatts by end of 2020.
Corruption
On corruption the president challenges the global assessment of corruption. He believes perception alone is not enough measure of how corrupt a country is. With perception as the standard, he says even when a country is putting in measures to fight the canker, merely by the constant mention of corruption in the media would rather increase the perception of corruption. He says unlike the previous government which says it won't expose corruption in order to be described as corrupt, his government will investigate every scintilla of corruption mentioned in the media. He says the government is retrieving illegal monies paid to individuals and companies; others are facing prosecution and has removed 3000 ghost names from the payroll.
More soon.