Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the NPP has out-performed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
These achievements and records of the NPP, he said, should form the basis for the 2024 campaign of the party as it seeks to ‘Break the 8’.
The accomplishments of the NPP, according to the Vice President, are far superior to the NDC’s when they were in office.
Dr Bawumia pointed out that the NDC era was characterized by low economic growth, a decline in agricultural growth, and low industrial growth, among others even though the erstwhile NDC government did not face twice the crisis that has bedevilled the world, which is the COVID-19 pandemic that struck the world in 2019 and the geo-political war as a result of the Russia invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He was addressing members of the NPP in the United States of America for the first time since his election as the leader and presidential candidate of the NPP on Saturday, 25 May 2024 at NPP-USA’s 30th anniversary celebration under the theme; “30 Years of Political Dedication and Sacrifice: Honouring our Heroes, Preserving our Legacy, Securing our Future through Victory,” held at the Hilton Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia.
Dr Bawumia said the NPP has a strong case to present to the people of Ghana on why the party should be retained in office to continue its agenda aimed at transforming the nation.
“The comparative performance of what the NDC did while in office and that of the NPP is practically like night and day. Of course, it is not everything we want to do that we have been able to do but it is true that if it is compared to the NDC, we have done much more if they are the comparative metric for us, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said.
On agriculture, Dr Bawumia said the current NPP administration has doubled growth from where the NDC’s previous government left it. Industrial expansion, the NPP leader said has been a major agenda of the Akufo-Addo administration and this has resulted in the creation of several jobs as compared to the NDC who were creating unemployment when they were in office.
“We have created over the last seven years 2.1 million jobs which have been well documented. 1.2 million jobs in the public sector and 975,000 jobs in the private sector with a crisis. Even amid COVID, we were recruiting more nurses, in COVID, we did not lay off any public sector workers. We have created more jobs than any other government in the history of Ghana, no government has achieved the record of creating 2.1 million jobs in 7 years,” Dr Bawumia remarked.
Dr Bawumia further pointed out that the Akufo-Addo government has built more roads than any other government, more airports than any other government, more railway lines than any other government, more court buildings than any other government, more hospitals than any other government in the 4th Republic, more landing sites, more sanitation facilities which has resulted in Ghana being the country with the lowest cholera levels in Africa and about 5,400 communities have been declared open defecation free as a direct result of the investments in sanitation facilities.
“The security forces in the country, according to Dr Bawumia, have also been retooled to perform their functions. 93% of the National Communication Authority (NCA) licensed fibre optic cable for internet service in Ghana was put in place under the NPP government from 2017 [when it took office],” Dr Bawumia remarked.
“When you look at sports facilities no government has been able to achieve what the current government has achieved in office. So, when you look at the basic metrics that we normally use to measure development, we just have out-performed them [NDC] in every sector” the NPP presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia further remarked.
On digitalization, the Vice President said beyond all the achievements of the Akufo-Addo administration such as interoperability, the digital address system, Ghana Card, among others, should he be elected President, he will turn his attention to developing the country’s credit score system which is expected to start with the launch of the individual credit score system before the end of the year.
The tax system in Ghana, according to Dr Bawumia, is difficult to understand and having studied the system and comparing the same to that of Estonia which is the country with the best tax structure in the world, he is convinced there is a need for a major tax restructuring in Ghana and that he will implement tax reforms when he is elected President.
“So in 2025, if by the grace of God, I am elected president, I will grant a tax amnesty to businesses and individuals so that we all start on a fresh slate with the flat tax system. The other tax reform I want to do is on import duty. I think the import duty system is a bit complicated and also high. We need clarity, predictability, and simplicity in the regime and so what I am advocating is a flat rate in the import duty regime” Dr Bawumia said.
To deal with the smuggling of goods to Ghana through the ports in Togo due to high tax rates at Ghana’s ports, Dr Bawumia said, the government will seek to make the tax rates at the country equal to that of Togo or lower since Togo is a competitor.