ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, after two (2) years after the Kwame Interchange had been approved by Parliament and construction of the project commenced, the Mahama government on 1st October, 2014 laid before Parliament another export credit facility for the design and construction of another project, the Ring Road Flyover, at a cost $170 million.
This transaction was approved on 2nd October, 2014 by the 6th Parliament of the Republic of Ghana.
It is important to emphasize, that the two projects (the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and the Ring Road Flyover) are distinct from each other and were separately approved by Parliament at different periods for different purposes.
The scope of work of the two projects are totally different, and so it is disingenuous and shameful for Dr.
Bawumia to lump the cost of the two projects together and create the impression that same is inflated.
If Bawumia has any modicum of respect for Ghanaians, he will honorably do the needful by retracting and apologizing for this lie which has further lowered his fast-sinking reputation and sullied his integrity and that of the high office he occupies.
MEDIOCRE PROJECTS CELEBRATED BY AKUFO-ADDO AS ACHIEVEMENTS Friends from the media, the NDC as a Social Democratic Party appreciates the varying need for projects such as boreholes, poly-tanks, speed ramps, urinals, one-seat unplastered toilets, kitchens, wooden bridges among others at the micro level to serve the needs of our rural folk.
This is why thousands of such projects were delivered across the country from 2009-2016 by the Mills and Mahama NDC governments to ameliorate the plight of our rural folks.
However, we do not think that it is right for a government that has had access to an unprecedented resource envelope of over GHS370 billion to showcase and celebrate such relatively less substantive projects as achievements.
At best, Unit Committee and Assembly Members should be allowed to take credit for such mundane initiatives.
Ghanaians deserve better for the unprecedented resources that have accrued to the Akufo-Addo government in the last three and half years of being in office.
As it is often said, to whom much is given, much is expected.
Akufo-Addo should therefore be showcasing more substantive and significant projects for the unprecedented resources he has had.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, may I now invite you to take a look at the very mediocre projects that are being celebrated as achievements by the Akufo-Addo government on their delivery tracker website.
BAWUMIA’S FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT ABANDONED MAHAMA PROJECTS Distinguished friends from the media, Dr.
Bawumia created a false impression during his presentation, that the Akufo Addo-government has completed all infrastructural projects they inherited from the Mahama government and that claims that they have abandoned most of these projects are false.
Nothing could be farther from the truth than this claim by Dr.
Even though a handful of Mahama projects have been completed by this government upon incessant pressure from the opposition, the media, and traditional authorities, the evidence show that thousands of infrastructural projects such as roads, E-Blocks and other educational facilities, hospitals and health facilities bequeathed to this government by the Mahama administration still remain abandoned and have been left to rot across the length and breadth of the country.
We have a list of hundreds of these abandoned Mahama projects scattered across the country that we couldn’t capture in this statement for want of space and time, but can furnish each of you with it upon your request.
BAWUMIA’S CLAIM THAT THE AKUFO ADDO-GOVERNMENT HAS PERFORMED BETTER THAN THE MAHAMA GOVERNMENT.
As for Bawumia’s claim, that the Akufo Addo-government has done better than the Mahama government, I am sure you all know by now that that assertion is a joke that should not be given any serious attention by any discerning mind.
Throughout last week, we in the NDC, led by my brother Felix Ofosu Kwakye, have shredded this false claim with indisputable evidence and demonstrated that President Mahama has a far superior and towering record of achievements in all sectors of the nation that completely dwarfs the mediocre accomplishments of his successor, President Akufo Addo.
Hence, we will not belabor the point today.
If our friends in the NPP are still in doubt about this fact, then they should simply encourage their leader, President Akufo Addo to accept the challenge by H.E John Mahama for a debate on their respective records of delivery at a place, time and with moderators and timekeepers of his choice.
Perhaps only then, will they see their “smoothness level”.
As we wait against all hope to see whether President Akufo Addo will accept this challenge, we would like to humbly entreat you, our friends in the media and anybody who is interested in the truth, to compare and contrast the so-called achievements of this government outlined by Dr.
Bawumia and their delivery tracker, which in most cases are either ghost, stolen or mediocre projects, to the tangible achievements of the Mahama administration contained in the famous green book, a soft copy of which you can easily download from the internet by clicking this link; .
And you will no doubt come to the conclusion, that President Mahama’s achievements in all sectors of the nation towers far above that of President Akufo Addo.
Friends from the media, one may ask why President Akufo Addo has very little to show for the unprecedented resources he has had in the last three and half years.
The answer is simple and that is, President Akufo-Addo has very little to show for the unprecedented resources that has accrued to his government because he has favored investments in consumption, corruption and wasteful expenditures since he assumed office to the detriment of Capital expenditure and the productive sectors of the economy.
The paucity of investment in infrastructure by President Akufo-Addo across board, is amply reflected in the decline of Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) to GDP ratio from 4.5% in 2016 to a paltry 1.5% in 2019.
Akufo Addo’s shambolic performance in office is the reason why he is unwilling to debate President John Dramani Mahama on their respective records in office and on issues that matter to the Ghanaian people.
It is therefore bizarre, that in spite of his woefully abysmal performance, President Akufo-Addo is asking the good people of this country for four (4) more years.
Four (4) more years to steal more as we witnessed in the BOSTGATE, missing excavators and tricycles, PPA, NYA, and Australia Visa Fraud scandals.
Four more years to borrow more for “chop chop”.
Four more years to travel in rented private jets at a cost of $17,000 per hour to the state.
Four more years of deception and broken promises.
Four more years of economic hardships.
Four more years to collapse more businesses and jobs.
Four more years of divisiveness, ethnocentrism and alienation of Ghanaians.
Four more years of lawlessness, intolerance and violence.
Four more years of bastardization of state institutions and harassment of the Auditor General and journalists.
Four more years to enrich his family and friends at the expense of the state, like we saw in the PDS scam, and we are now seeing in the new Asaase-Agyapa Royalties scam.
Ghanaians know too well that President Akufo Addo doesn’t mean well for this nation and cannot endure four (4) years of his maladministration.
NPP 2020 MANIFESTO LAUNCH Ladies and gentlemen, after delivering just a miserable 14% of their 631 manifesto promises, with a whopping 86% of those promises remaining unfulfilled, the President and his men were at it again in Cape Coast this weekend.
One would have thought that Saturday’s charade of a manifesto launch by the NPP would have been preceded by an honest and sincere apology to the Ghanaian people by President Akufo-Addo himself for failing to honour an overwhelming majority of his promises such as has never been seen in the anals of Ghana’s history.
But as usual, he chose the path of deception in the hope that he will be second time lucky with well-decorated lies and political chicanery.
God being so good, he has been exposed so much such that every Ghanaian who followed the manifesto launch knows that the entire exercise was a scam calculated for votes and nothing more.
Friends from the media, one thing that has made this grand deception more manifest is the 2020 manifesto promise of President Akufo-Addo to construct an ultramodern Airport at Cape Coast.
In an interview on Cape Coast-based Atlantic FM on Friday, 21st August, 2020 ahead of their manifesto launch, President Akufo Addo made the point that an airport in Cape Coast is not yet justified given the close proximity of Cape Coast to the Capital City of Accra and Takoradi both of which have airports.
Yet, in less than 24 hours at the manifesto launch in Cape Coast, his Vice.
Bawumia announced a promise to the people of Cape Coast that they will build an ultramodern airport and habour for them if elected.
This begs the question as to what sort of feasibility was conducted on the Cape Coast Airport project between the time President Akufo Addo spoke on Atlantic FM and the manifesto launched.
Just like this kneejerk deceptive promise, the entire 2020 manifesto of the NPP is a 419 promise intended for votes and not meant to be kept.
In all humility, we will like to implore the good people of Ghana to dismiss this 419 NPP manifesto ab initio.
This is because, President Akufo-Addo, his Vice Dr.
Bawumia and the entire NPP establishment cannot be trusted to deliver on their promises.
If President Akufo Addo could break 86% of his first term manifesto promises when he knew he will be seeking a second mandate from the Ghanaian people, then how many of his latest 2020 manifesto promises will he break if elected, now that he will not be seeking another mandate for Ghanaians again?
Another point which is worthy of note, is the deafening silence of all the speakers at the launch on the issue of corruption and nepotism, which for us, is ample testament to the fact the fight against corruption and nepotism has been totally lost under Akufo Addo, the “Chief Corruption Clearing Agent”.
Indeed today, his promise to protect the public purse and not to operate a family and friends government, all lie in tatters, trampled upon with indescribable contempt.
Akufo Addo has normalized corruption and nepotism in a way never seen in the 63-year history of Ghana and must be kicked out of office come 7th December, 2020.
Ghanaians can simply not forgive the Akufo-Addo government for the naked thievery they have perpetrated on the nation through the stinking PDS scandal, The “BOSTGATE” five (5) million liters of contaminated fuel scandal, THE PPA scandal, (which was referred to the Special Prosecutor a year ago and has been thrown under the carpet just like many others) The Australian VISA fraud scandal, The Charles Bissue Galamsey fraud scandal, The 500 missing Excavators and the missing tricycles scandal and recently, the Asaase-Agyapa scandal which seeks to steal millions of dollars for a few family members and cronies of President Akufo-Addo.
Also, Ghanaians can simply not forgive President Akufo Addo for his numerous failed promises such as; the one million dollars per constituency every year, 1D1F, 1V1D, double-digit GDP growth, reduced borrowing, move Ghana from taxation to production, One district one hospital, one district one market, one region one theatre, free WiFi for secondary and tertiary institutions and the several hundreds of their 2016 manifesto promises, all of which remain unfulfilled till date.
Friends from the media, the 2020 manifesto of the NPP offers no hope and failed to address the aspirations of Ghanaians.
This has been manifestly evident from the nonchalant reception it has received from the general public since it was launched.
Our beloved country is at a crossroads, and urgently requires honest, visionary, modest, caring, competent and selfless leadership that invests in developmental projects and creates equal opportunities for all and not a select few.
Leadership that we can trust, for trust maters.
And that, we can find in none other than H.E John Dramani Mahama, THE NATION BUILDER.
It is glaringly clear, that Akufo Addo and his NPP will not be second time lucky with lies and “419” promises in this years general elections.
Today, majority of Ghanaians know that the John Mahama-led Rescue Mission is their only hope for the inclusive transformation, true progress we are all yearning for.
Ghanaians are waiting for President John Dramani Mahama to deliver: * Free Primary Health Care, to provide free health care at the District Hospital level to CHPS compounds.
* One million jobs for the teeming unemployed people of this country.
* Pay all depositors of the collapsed financial institutions their locked up funds and restore indigenous participation and collapsed jobs in the banking and financial sector * The Big Push which will ensure a US$10billion investment in infrastructure development in order to create sustainable jobs for Ghanaians.
* The National Apprenticeship program under which, any Ghanaian desirous to learn a craft will be enrolled and trained by a master-craftsperson for free, paid monthly stipends for their accommodation, transportation and feeding, and setup with the necessary tool-kits upon their successful completion of the apprenticeship program.
* Introduce Free TVET up to the tertiary level.
* Legalize the “Okada” commercial motorbike transport services, to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth of Ghana.
* scrap corporate income tax for small-scale businesses and new medium-scale businesses who employ 20 people and above, as well as reduce corporate income tax from 25%-15% for all existing medium-scale businesses aimed at enabling them plough back their profits into expanding their businesses and employ more young people”.
* Reduce the size of government and channel savings from same into the payment of Assembly Members.
* Create opportunities for all and not just a select few family and friends.
Ghanaians are disappointed in Akufo Addo and are waiting to vote for, THE TRUSTWORTHY NATION BUILDER, John Dramani Mahama because he offers a better program with a solid and unparalleled track-record of delivery.
A POLICY STATEMENT ON THE GHANAIAN ECONOMY (PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT ON TUESDAY, 1ST APRIL, 2014) INTRODUCTION Mr.
Speaker, I appear before you today to provide you with a consolidated set of measures that we have been using to manage our economy—to correct the imbalances that have occurred in recent years and to lay the foundation for transforming the structure of the economy.
Following the President’s State of the Nation Address, the nation listened attentively to the spirited debates and issues raised by Honorable members of Parliament around the challenges and prospects of our country.
RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS AND MEASURES Mr.
Speaker, in 2012 we achieved real GDP growth of 7.9 percent and an inflation rate of 8.8 percent.
However, the economy had come under severe stress particularly on the fiscal front, on account of exceptional factors including: implementation challenges associated with the single-spine wage policy initiated in 2007 to correct distortions and inequities in the public sector wage structure; significant shortfall in grants from Development Partners; non-realisation of projected revenue from the oil companies, due mainly to shortfall in projected output in 2011 and 2012; larger-than expected petroleum and utility subsidies; higher interest costs arising from the steep rise in short term domestic interest rates— the continued disruption in gas supply to the country from the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) that led to a substantial increase in subsidies.
Therefore, rather than a 6.7 percent budget deficit originally targeted, we realized an actual deficit of 11.8 percent.
Speaker, the 2013 Budget ushered in bold decisions to improve the fiscal situation.
To improve revenue performance and support the fiscal consolidation effort, in July 2013, Government introduced the following revenue measures: National Fiscal Stabilization Levy – levy of 5% of profit before tax of banking, insurance, other financial services, communication, and brewery sectors with a sunset clause to end at the end of 2014; Special Import Levy of 1 and 2 percent on some imported goods; Environmental tax of 10% on plastic to broaden the base; and Import duty of 20 percent and VAT on imported mobile handsets.
Speaker, these revenue measures yielded revenue equivalent to about GH¢168 million or 0.2 percent of GDP in 2013 and are expected to yield GH¢630 million or 0.6 percent of GDP in 2014.
Speaker, in addition to the revenue measures, expenditure rationalization measures were introduced for purposes of achieving the fiscal target for the year, namely: Regular adjustment of fuel and utility prices to achieve better targeting and thereby reduce related subsidies to the barest minimum; Minimizing waste in expenditure on goods and services and capital; Moratorium on the award of new contracts and contracting new loans with a change in focus to pipeline items; Refinancing of short term expensive debt with a view to extending the maturity dates and reducing interest costs; Provision of matching funds to fast-track disbursement of existing loans; and Processing of all GoG expenditures on the Ghana Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS) and classifying them under a revised Chart of Accounts for all government transactions.
Further, the expenditure rationalization measures helped to contain most expenditures within the 2013 total Appropriation.
Speaker, whiles these measures helped us to substantially address the challenges, the year ended with a provisional fiscal deficit of 10.8 percent of GDP against a target of 9 percent.
This was due mainly to the following factors: shortfall in tax revenue resulting from lower domestic output and import levels as well as a decline in commodity prices on the world market, notably gold and cocoa; continuous shortfall in grants from Development Partners relative to the budget target; overrun in the compensation or personal emoluments comprising wages, gratuities and allowance (and including arrears to all these categories); overrun in subsidies due mainly to the payment of arrears; and overrun in interest costs, due mainly to financing of the deficit and past issues of bonds to complete capital projects that were placed on the Budget.
Speaker, we also experienced an energy shortfall due to the breakdown of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) due to the action of pirates.
The power disruptions affected industry and industrial output declined.
This therefore, affected GDP growth in 2013.
We have also highlighted the fall in gold and cocoa prices as major causes of the decline in output.
Based on growth data for the first three quarters of 2013 as well as developments in the fourth quarter of the year, growth for the year is expected to decelerate.
The actions we took to reduce the fiscal deficit had consequences on inflation.
Inflation surged in 2013 mainly on account of the adjustment of prices on petroleum and utilities as well as pass-through effects of exchange rate depreciation, the latter reflecting a general weakness of external sector developments in 2013.
After beginning the year at 10.1 percent, inflation ended 2013 at 13.5 percent against the target band of 9±2 percent.
Speaker, on the external front, Ghana’s key commodity prices generally softened during the first half of 2013 while a recovery in cocoa prices in the second half was not sufficient to prevent an overall deterioration of the terms of trade.
This alongside a large net service and income outflows as well as slowdown in official and private transfer inflows, resulted in a deterioration of the current account balance to 12.8 percent.
This was financed mainly by direct investments and short-term capital flows as well as drawdown of reserves.
Speaker, the economy has been through several external shocks that were often beyond our control.
Their management, however, was done through the use of well-considered fiscal and monetary tools, some of which are innovative and also designed to help manage future volatilities MACROECONOMIC PROGRAMME FOR 2014 Mr.
Speaker, in addition to the 2013 measures, the 2014 Budget introduced a number of policy initiatives to strengthen the revenue and expenditure regimes.
The revenue measures sought to broaden the tax base and thus spread the burden of national development on all of our citizens rather than the few who meet their tax obligations.
We also attempted to make the system fairer and efficient.
In this regard, the following revenue measures are being implemented: increase of the VAT rate by 2.5 percentage points and a broadening of the VAT base to cover fee-based financial services and real estate – to reflect its essence as a tax on all consumption expenditures; a change in petroleum excise tax from specific to ad valorem – in line with other excise regimes; an increase in withholding tax on rent on commercial properties from 8 to 15 percent – to encourage the provision of residential accommodation; an increase in the withholding tax on management and technical services fees from 15 to 20 percent – to make the overall tax regime fairer to all taxpayers; an increase in corporate income tax rate of free zones companies selling on the local market from 8 to 25 percent – to prevent discrimination against firms marketing all their output on the domestic market; and more effective application of the communication service tax.
Speaker, clearly, the tax measures go beyond the sole objective of raising revenue or even addressing the current challenges exclusively.
As noted they broaden the tax base, remove inefficiencies and make the regime fairer to all tax payers.
Together with ongoing improvements in revenue administration, these tax measures are estimated to yield additional revenue of not less thanGH¢700 million or 0.7 percent of GDP in 2014.
In 2014, the Ministry of Finance has initiated a process to change the upfront exemptions regime to a credit and refund system to minimize abuse, tax evasion and tax avoidance.
In addition the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act will be reviewed to ensure that exemptions granted by the GIPC are consistent with the government exemption policy.
The main theme of the 2014 Budget is to realign the expenditures.
In this regards, the Budget includes expenditure rationalisation measures such as: continuation of the policy on bringing utility and petroleum subsidies within budget estimates and making them more targeted towards our social intervention goals; a framework within the Ho Forum on public sector pay sustainability to reduce the wage bill as a share of tax revenue, from 57 percent in 2013 to 35 percent by 2017.
This would put us in compliance with the ECOWAS criterion of wage-to-revenue ratio; the development of a multi-year framework in the immediate term as part of wage sustainability measures which is emerging from a growing consensus between government and labour; a proposal of a moratorium on public sector wage increase in 2014 through the public sector wage negotiation process; continuation of the policy of net freeze on employment into some sectors of the public service.
payroll management measures such as payroll audits and Electronic System Payment Voucher (E-SPV) to reduce the incidence of ‘ghost’ workers on government payroll; and continuation of the moratorium on the award of new contracts and new loans with continuing emphasis on pipeline items.
Speaker in addition to the above measures, the following PFM reforms that are structural in nature are also being implemented: the shift of all government transactions to a new Chart of Accounts (COA) – to facilitate more transparency; the shift of budget and financial accounting from cash to semi-accrual basis to help government better track its financial commitments; deployment of all transactions to a GIFMIS electronic platform comprising ten (10) budget and accounting systems; and improvement in revenue and fiscal performance under GRAs revenue modernization programme Mr.