<<Print>>

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has opined that Ghanaians believe in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to deliver economic prosperity to them.

According to him, Ghanaians have over the years come to know the NPP as a party that performs creditably well when elected into office.

Speaking on Nandom FM during his tour of the Upper West region on August 22, President Akufo-Addo asked the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to ‘hesitate’ in celebrating the current economic challenges confronting the country – a celebration indicating that they will win the 2024 elections.

He emphasized that the NPP will be able to navigate through the challenging times and continue to govern the country post his tenure.

“Breaking the 8 is very feasible. I think that the Ghanaian people are aware [that the party] is a party performance. Yes, at the moment there are difficulties confronting the country but what I sense is that Ghanaians are aware that we will be able to take them out of the difficulties.

“It will not be the first time. President Kufuor’s time, we went through the HIPC. In my own time, we went through an IMF programme successfully. We have been through this Covid disaster very very successfully and I have no doubt that we will come out of present financial circumstances also successfully and be in a position to continue the work of development and growth that has been associated with us,” President Akufo-Addo said.

He further explained that it was going to take hard work on the part of the government and NPP to “break the 8”.

However, he said there was a commitment from both members of the government and the party to go the extra mile in achieving their set objective of retaining power in 2024.

President Akufo-Addo in a jab at the NDC said they must continue to remain in opposition for a long time to organize themselves and be better prepared to manage the affairs of the country.

“I can’t say I’m very confident. I don’t want to sound complacent or for somehow rather as far as I’m concerned it's a done deal [sic]. No, there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us on government as well as the party. But what I sense is that there’s the willingness on the part of both the government and members of the party to go that extra mile, to do that heavy lifting that is going to face us in 2024.

“The other side [NDC], they should spend some more time in opposition so that they can organize themselves properly and speak properly so that the next time [they are prepared] but for the time being, the space is ours and we intend to continue occupying it,” the president stated.

The 2024 general elections is expected to be a keenly contested one between the two major political parties in the country – New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC).

While the NPP looks at extending its stay in power in what it has christened as ‘break the 8’, the NDC is also lacing up its boots to wrestle power from the governing party.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has said the government intends to roll out policies to steer the country out of economic difficulties.

Speaking at the General Assembly Meeting of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Abetifi, President Akufo -Addo said:

“The Akufo-Addo government has not thrown up its hands in despair. We are determined to bring relief to the Ghanaian people and return the economy back to the high rate of growth that characterised our development in the 3 years preceding the Covid-19 outbreak which made our economy one of the fastest growing in the world at the time. The approach to the IMF is a major step in the short run towards that goal.”