ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
Similarly, PVC pipes (20mm) that used to sell at about ¢3 in 2016 is today being sold at ¢8 Electrical Cables (Cable metal – 16mm) that used to sell at ¢700 in 2016, is today selling at ¢1,553 while the 1.5mm Cable metal, which used to sell at ¢78 is today selling at ¢167.
Distinguished friends, the situation is even direr in the case of food products, where a bag of maize that used to sell at ¢170.00 in 2016, is today selling at ¢450, while a cup of Beans that used to sell at ¢1.50 is selling at ¢5.00 today.
Also, an “Olankor” of Gari that used to sell at ¢5 in 2016 is today selling at ¢12, while a bucket of onion that used to sell at ¢15 in 2016 is selling at ¢40 currently.
Also, a bag of sachet water that used to sell at ¢1.50 in 2016 is today selling at ¢4 while a sack of “konkonte” that was sold at ¢200 in 2016 is being sold today at ¢600.
Again, a pound of cow meat that was sold at ¢9 in 2016 is today being sold at ¢17 while one chicken (broiler) that used to sell at ¢35 is today selling at ¢70.
Additionally, a bottle of Frytol Oil that used to sell at GHc130.00 in 2016 is today selling at GHc285.00.
Similarly, a crate of eggs that used to sell as at GHc12.00 in 2016 is today selling at GHc26.00, just to mention a few.
This picture looks scary for many Ghanaian families and households, as it has become a constant struggle for many to afford three square meals a day.
The reality is that “kromAyeshe”!
Times are very tough, the system is hard and pockets are dry.
Car owners are suffering; Taxi drivers are suffering; “Trotro” drivers are suffering; “Trotro Mates” are suffering; Uber drivers are suffering; Bus drivers are suffering; passengers are suffering, And Ghanaians, in general, are suffering.
Sadly, the state of economic hardships and hopelessness in the country keeps worsening by the day with no end in sight- all as a result of the insensitive policies and bad leadership of the deceptive Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-NPP government.
The question we would want to ask President Akufo-Addo and his “419” Vice President, Dr.
Bawumia is; what has happened to their much-touted promise to move Ghana from taxation to production when elected?
What has happened to their campaign rhetoric that Ghanaians were being over-taxed by the NDC/Mahama administration and their promise to develop Ghana through tax incentives?
It bears reminding ourselves that in the run-up to the 2016 general elections, these masters of political chicanery, President Akufo-Addo himself, ably assisted by his jocular “419” Vice, Dr Bawumia, told Ghanaians in the Akan language that: “Yete Sika nso ekom de y3”, to wit, Ghanaians were sitting on money, yet we were starving.
Now, the question we ought to be asking is, where is the money they claimed we were sitting on?
You would further recall that in the run-up to the 2020 general elections, Dr.
Bawumia and President Akufo-Addo asked the Ghanaian electorate to give them four (4) more years to do more for them?
Is the imposition of draconian taxes on Ghanaians which has led to persistent increases in fuel prices what they meant by “4 more to do more”?
Today, Ghana’s economy is in shambles.
Our national currency, the Ghana Cedi continues to depreciate at an alarming rate against all the major international currencies, while government continues to cook fictitious economic figures ostensibly to paint a different picture.
The US dollar which was trading with the Cedi at about GHS4.00 to a dollar as at December 2016, is today trading with the Cedi at about GHS6.2 to a dollar.
This situation continues to erode profit margins of businesses, particularly importers, and is one of the major factors which are contributing to the escalation of fuel prices and the prices of general goods on the market, most of which are imported.
Yet, the Vice President and Head of the Economic Management Team, Dr.
Bawumia who was once touted by the NPP as their economic messiah is no where to be found.
What is even sad in all this is that, instead of focusing on the stabilization of the national currency and the introduction of economic measures that can provide relief for our people, the government has chosen the lazy and callous option of shifting all the burden on Ghanaians in order to finance their luxurious and opulent lifestyle.
In the midst of hardships and economic difficulties, President Akufo-Addo and Dr.
Bawumia have chosen to live luxuriously like Arabian Kings, at the expense of the already-burdened Ghanaian taxpayer.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no gainsaying the fact that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-NPP government is the luckiest and most resourced government in Ghana’s history.
They have borrowed more than any government in the history of Ghana and have had access to revenue from three (3) oil fields in addition to tax revenue of over GHS157 billion, which is almost double the tax revenue (GHc83 billion) that accrued to the NDC/Mahama administration.
Yet, this government has next to nothing to show relative to developmental projects.
Instead of investing in the productive sectors of the economy, they have virtually wasted all these resources on consumption-related expenditures, profligacy and corruption.
Their misplaced priorities are the bane of the ailing Ghanaian economy and the main reason why Ghanaians are suffering in a manner never seen in the history of this country.
It is instructive to note, that in the midst of persistent fuel price increases and the ever-rising cost of living, financial allocations to the Office of Government Machinery have galloped from GHc79 million in the year 2017 to GHc823 million in the year 2021, representing a 937.73% rise.
And what is this money being used for?
Is it being used for productive projects and programs that can stimulate the economy, create jobs and improve the livelihoods of Ghanaians?
The answer is a big No.
Rather, all these monies are being applied mainly to financing the luxurious foreign travels of President Akufo-Addo in hyper-expensive private jets which sometimes cost the Ghanaian taxpayer as much as $20,000 US dollars per hour.
In the last three (3) months alone, the taxes of suffering Ghanaians worth over GHc10 million, equivalent to 100 billion old cedis have been wasted by this government on the renting of hyper-expensive private jets for President Akufo-Addo’s trips to Europe, the UK and the United States of America.
This was after they wasted a whopping GHS64 million on similar trips of the Presidency in only nine (9) months in the year 2019.
Sadly, this is happening at a time our state Presidential Jet, the Dassault Falcon 900 Ex which was bought by the Kuffuor administration at a price of $45 million is available and in pristine condition.
Ladies and gentlemen, imagine the developmental projects these monies could have been used for in the health sector, or the education sector or the roads sector, or the energy sector, among others, for the benefit of the people, if government had set its priorities right and shown a modicum of sensitivity to the plight of the suffering masses.
Even in the Energy Sector, the corrupt Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration continue to plunder the assets of State Own Enterprises such as the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), BOST, GNPC among others.
I’m sure you have heard about the brazen and unprecedented thievery that is going on at TOR currently, where 105,927 litres of Gas Oil, 18 drums of electrical cables and other valuable assets worth about GHc42 million (420 billion old Ghana cedis) have vanished into thin air.
Yet, this corrupt and wasteful government continues to demand more revenue from suffering Ghanaians through the imposition of draconian taxes on the prices of fuel, with its ripple effects on cost of living, as I have amply demonstrated with indisputable facts.
Friends, it is the height of insensitivity and a monumental betrayal of the trust of Ghanaians for President Akufo-Addo and Dr.
Bawumia who promised to protect the public purse, to turn around and engage in this obscene and unprecedented plunder of the public purse, while at the same time, inflicting severe hardships on Ghanaians.
It is very offensive for the President, His Vice Dr.
Bawumia and other government officials to continue to display such odious ostentation, particularly at this time that majority of Ghanaians are suffering and cannot make ends meet.
And, it is about time we told them that we the people of this country are no longer willing to pay for their opulent lifestyles.
We in the NDC are not surprised that dishonest President Akufo-Addo and his deceptive Vice, Dr.
Bawumia are being exposed time again for the many lies they rode on into power.
This is because we have always known that even though a campaign of deceitful promises can bring one into power, their true character will always expose them in the fullness of time.
Lies they say, have a short life span.
The NDC wishes to add its voice to the call by well-meaning Ghanaians for government to sit up and stabilize the Ghana Cedi through prudent economic management so as to stabilize fuel prices and the prices of imported products in general.
More importantly, we wish to call on the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government, to scrap some of the unnecessary taxes they have heaped on the price buildup of petroleum products so as to drastically reduce same.
We hold the view, that the two months suspension or zero-rating of the Stabilization and Recovery Levy of 14 pesewas and 16 pesewas per Litre of diesel and petrol respectively, is wholly-inadequate, insufficient and cannot bring about any significant reduction in the current prices of fuel products.
In fact, given the fact that, the price of a gallon of diesel and petrol has increased by close to GHc10.00 in this year, 2021 alone, it is an insult to the sensibilities of suffering Ghanaians for government to offer to reduce the price of fuel by a paltry 63 pesewas, which is the net effect of the zero-rating of the Stabilization and Recovery Levy government has announced.
We therefore wish to call on the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-NPP government to as a matter of urgency scrap: 1. the Special Petroleum Tax (SPT) of 46 pesewas on a litre of diesel and petrol.
It will be recalled that the SPT was introduced by the erstwhile NDC/Mahama administration sometime in 2016 when crude oil export price fell far below government’s budgetary projections.
The objective was to shore up government’s revenue for development purposes.
But given the fact that crude oil export price has increased from below $40 to above $80 per barrel currently, far above the government’s budgetary projection of $54.75 per barrel, it is untenable for government to still maintain the SPT on the price of petroleum products now, and same should be scrapped immediately.
This is particularly so, when government’s revenue from the oil sector for the second quarter of this year 2021, went up by almost 60%, equivalent to US$89.1 million, as compared to oil revenue for the same period in the previous year.
In the same vein, we call on government to scrap the newly introduced taxes on fuel products such as the Energy Sector Levies of 20 pesewas on a litre of diesel and petrol and 3. the new sanitation levy (“Borla” tax) of 10 pesewas on a litre of diesel and petrol, as same is totally needless and useless.
We also demand that the new increase of 18 pesewas on a kilogram of LPG must be scrapped.
And finally, we wish to call on government to consider the review of other existing taxes on fuel products in line with proposals submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Energy by the Chamber Of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) and other stakeholders in the downstream petroleum sector.
Distinguished friends from the media, these demands are not borne out of cheap politics or partisanship, but the realities we presently find ourselves in and are intended for the collective good and welfare of all Ghanaians.
We wish to remind President Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia to respect and uphold the sanctity of their political pact with the Ghanaian electorate.
The Ghanaian people did not bargain for this level of tax burden on the prices of petroleum products in the 2020 December 7 Polls.
Governance at all times must be about the advancement of the collective good and not the narrow interest of a select few.
This government has become too removed from the stark realities of the Ghanaian people and it is about time they got back on track.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we project that if government listens to us and does as we have advised, the prices of diesel and petrol will come down drastically.
This will stabilize the ever-rising prices of general goods and services and go a long way to ameliorate the plight of suffering Ghanaians.
But should government fail to heed our wise counsel as they always do, prices of general goods and services will continue to soar, hardships in the country will continue to worsen to gargantuan levels and all of us, irrespective of our political affiliations, except the few privileged ones in government, will continue to suffer.
As you do know, the last quarter of the year usually presents an opportunity for many to turn around their economic fortunes as we prepare for the yuletide.
However, given the persistent increases in fuel prices we are witnessing and the ever-skyrocketing prices of goods on the market, it looks like we are heading for the worst Christmas ever for the Ghanaian people.
We cannot allow the hardships we are experiencing to continue.
We demand that things are changed by government for the better, and that change must happen now!
Signed, SAMMY GYAMFI National Communication Officer, NDC
Introduction Good morning distinguished friends from the media.
It is always my greatest pleasure to welcome you to the headquarters of the great National Democratic Congress.
We remain grateful to you for availing your esteemed platforms to us to engage the Ghanaian people on national issues that are critical to the development of our beloved country.
We have invited you here today to address a very worrying development currently playing out in the ongoing voter registration exercise, which threatens to throw our nation into a full-blown ethnic unrest if not checked.
The NDC is deeply worried and totally aghast at what appears to be a deliberate agenda of tribal discrimination, hatched by President Akufo-Addo and the NPP, to frustrate and disenfranchise Ghanaians of certain tribes from acquiring Voter ID Cards that will qualify them to exercise their democratic right to choose a President and Members of Parliament on 7th December, 2020.
Indeed, we have long known about this diabolic and nation-wrecking agenda.
You would recall that as part of our resistance against the compilation of a new voters’ register, we argued forcefully that the EC’s entrenched and unjustifiable decision to compile a new voters’ register at all cost, was part of a grand scheme to help the NPP/Akufo-Addo government suppress votes and disenfranchise many in NDC strongholds.
Yet some of you our friends in the media did not believe us.
As a matter of fact, some of you have always challenged us to produce evidence to back our claim.
Today, we will be showing evidence of state-sponsored discrimination and unlawful prevention of thousands of Ghanaians belonging to various ethnic groups, including Ewes, people of Northern descent and other non-Akans from registering at various registration centers across the length and breadth of Ghana.
Hopefully, this time, you will appreciate the NPP’s clandestine agenda to deploy voter suppression through ethnocentric discrimination to rig the 2020 general elections and the danger that portends for the democracy and stability of this country.
Banda Constituency Distinguished friends from the media, we will start from the Banda Constituency in the Bono region of Ghana where armed military men and NPP hoodlums are terrorizing and brutalizing innocent citizens believed to be Ewes in the ongoing voter registration exercise.
I am sure some of you may have seen a short video that emerged from Banda Ahenkro in the Bono Region over the weekend.
In that video, a man identified as Awuku Gyeabia, the Asiakwahene of the Banda Ahenkro Traditional Council is seen openly confronting armed military men who stormed a registration center to forcibly prevent people who are believed to be settlers of the Ewe tribe from registering in the Banda Constituency.
The chief, while calling out President Akufo-Addo for encouraging the ethnocentric military invasion of the area, also gave a brief history of the Ewe people on Banda soil, which dates back to as far as 1919, long before the Gold Coast became Ghana.
Just like the chief in that video, many are perplexed at how these settlers who have lived in Banda area for over 100 years, and have voted in the area since 1992 suddenly do not qualify to register and vote in the Banda Constituency now that Akufo Addo is President.
The harassment and brutalization of innocent Ghanaians by some military personnel and NPP thugs at several peaceful registration centers in the Banda Constituency has exacerbated tensions in that Constituency and created a situation where several thousands of people have not been able to register.
Over the weekend, we received reports of severe brutalities being meted out to people of the Ewe tribe in a community called Bator Akanyakrom, a fishing community which has been relocated as part of the Bui Dam Resettlement Plan.
As a matter of fact, Akanyakrom is a community of Ewe people located in the Banda District of the Bono Region.
This community has existed since the 1920’s, when these settlers who are predominantly fishers got attracted to the area due to its fishing potential.
However, and quite unfortunately, it has been the plan of the despotic and tribalistic Akufo Addo government to physically and violently prevent these Ghanaians from taking part in the ongoing voter registration exercise on grounds that they are Togolese.
We must also add, that due to the relocation of settlements to make way for the Bui Reservoir, most of the Ewe people of Akanyakrom, especially those from communities such as Dokokyina have found themselves on one side of the Dam, whilst others remained upstream of the dam, and mostly go fishing, staying for several weeks and months before coming back on market days.
The number of people who are currently staying upstream are close to 42,000, whilst those at the Bono side are about 20,000 people, if not more.
These are all Ghanaians that President Akufo Addo and the NPP are bent on disenfranchising on the basis of their tribe and nothing more.
It is worth mentioning that these events in the Banda Constituency were heralded by a capricious and inhumane decision to demolish the homes of an indigenous Ewe community around Bui under the auspices of the Bui Dam Authority, for allegedly posing an unspecified danger to the Dam.
This exercise was designed to unsettle the people and render them incapable of part-taking in the ongoing voter registration exercise.
Over the weekend, NPP thugs, ably supported by military men in uniform, police and immigration officers stationed themselves at the landing beach at Bongase and physically prevented these people from going into the community to register, including people who wanted to visit the clinic to seek healthcare.
Some of the people were brutally assaulted, and those who managed to get to the registration centers were denied the process completely.
It is instructive to note, that all these people were not challenged as the law demands.
Instead, they were attacked and beaten up, while several of them remained on the river, unable to dock.
Again, on Sunday, August 2, 2020, known thugs of the NPP besieged the Akanyakrom Funeral Grounds registration center, beat up people who had turned up to register, including elderly women and injured several of them.
The registration exercise got disrupted, the police were called in, they came to meet those NPP thugs in khaki and black uniforms, but watched on while these thugs jumped into their vehicles and drove off, only to return intermittently to unleash more violence.
Friends from the media, it is this situation which compelled our General Secretary who hails from the area and has served as Member of Parliament of the Banda Constituency to visit these areas last Sunday as part of his monitoring activities, leading to a confrontation between him and some armed military officers who had mounted a road block and were preventing innocent Ghanaians belonging to the Ewe tribe from crossing into the nearby community to register.
Only this morning, five (5) Voltarians whose eligibility were challenged upon registration and were on their way to attend the adjudication committee meeting of the EC, were attacked by some armed NPP hoodlums belonging to the NPP’s “Delta Forces” around the Bui Lake close to Bongase.
Three (3) of them who sustained series injuries managed to escape, whiles two (2) of them were kidnapped by the NPP hoodlums, a situation that is currently generating a lot tension in the area and has led to the suspension of the entire registration process at Akanyakrom by the EC citing heightened insecurity.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, this is how serious the matter is and the earlier President Akufo Addo halted the ongoing ethnocentric harassment of innocent Ghanaians in the area, the better it will be for the nation.
Ahafo Ano North Constituency Ladies and Gentlemen, another area which had recorded similar happenings is the Ahafo Ano North Constituency, where armed military men are aiding Electoral Commission Officials to deny hundreds of people of northern descent, predominantly of the Grumah tribe from taking part in the Voter Registration Exercise, despite majority of them possessing Ghana Cards, one of the requirements needed to register.
Their only crime according to their oppressors is that, they do not bear Akan names and therefore cannot be identified as hailing from the Ahafo Ano North Constituency.
Not even the presence of the media to highlight these obvious infractions of the law has been able to convince the EC and the armed military men deployed to the area to allow these Ghanaian citizens to register.
Still in Ahafo Ano South Constituency, on Saturday July 11 2020, the BVR kits deployed to the D/A Primary School Akwadaanyame 1 Registration Centre stopped functioning few hours after the start of the exercise and many attempts by the EC officials to resolve the issue was unsuccessful.
Unfortunately, the District EC Officer declined the request to replace the BVR and claimed they simply needed an IT technician to rectify the situation, it took 4 hours for the IT technician to arrive, and regrettably, he was unable to resolve the situation.
This was the last day for the 2nd phase of the exercise.
Yet, at about 4pm, the over 300 registrants most of whom are Ewes and Northerners who were waiting in the queue to register were aggressively dispersed by armed Military men in the area.
It will interest you to note that this registration center is a known stronghold of the NDC in the constituency.
Sekyere Afram Plains Constituency Similarly, in the Sekyere Afram Plains Constituency, on Thursday 9th July 2020, NDC supporters who in accordance with our electoral laws challenged some registrants at the Sekyere Afram Plains District office of the EC on grounds that they are not residence of the area were arrested by the military and beaten to pulp and Locked up at the Drobonso Police Station based on the suspicion that they were foreigners.
Ketu South Constituency Ladies and gentlemen of the media, the election-driven ethnic victimization of Voltarians by the NPP/Akufo Addo-government continues to manifest in the Ketu South Constituency of the Volta Region as we speak.
It is trite knowledge, and indeed a matter of public record, that the Vice President, Dr.
Mahamudu Bawumia and other NPP bigwigs have long singled out the Ketu South Constituency for their election-driven myth of a so-called bloated register.
As we all know, this myth is backed by no evidential value, other than fictitious and imaginary fallacies championed by Dr.