Former President John Dramani Mahama officially launched his campaign to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) into the 2024 general elections in the Volta Region yesterday.
If successful in the party primaries, Mr. Mahama will make a record of being the first person to lead the NDC into four (4) successive general elections.
In his speech to supporters of the NDC and Ghanaians in general at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, the former President promised a host of things should he get the nod as leader of the country in 2024.
We chronicled 5 of such promises and they are below:
1 . Working with 60 Ministers and deputies: He said he will use a total of sixty (60) Ministers and deputies should Ghanaians give him the mandate.
“I shall assemble and operate the leanest but most efficient government under our fourth republic. We will reduce, significantly, the size of the government. As I announced in my Ghana We Want address at UPSA late last year, I will form a government of less than sixty (60) ministers and deputy ministers of state.”
2 . Probe the COVID-19 expenditure: Mr Mahama also promised to probe the expenditure of Covid-19 funds and ensure proper accountability of all public funds.
“Fellow countrymen and women, the time has come for Ghanaians to receive proper accountability from those they elect to political office. This accountability can only be achieved by a new party in government. I promise Ghanaians, that I shall investigate how public funds were expended and this includes the Covid-19 Audit and the findings from the Auditor-General’s reports over the years”.
“We must clean the Augean stables and rid them of the filth and corruption. The anti-corruption will be given unfettered space to do their work. The days of the infamous ‘clearing agent’ will be well and truly over. But to ensure efficiency and professionalism in this endeavour, institutions of the state would be empowered to be independent in their work. State-owned enterprises will not be a gravy train for political apparatchiks.”
3 . Cancel ex-gratia for Article 71 office holders: He said this among other things during the launch of his flagbearership campaign themed ‘Building The Ghana We Want Together’ in Ho, the Volta Regional capital on Thursday, February 2.
“The payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive under article 71 will be scrapped,” Mahama said.
4 . Restore faith in the financial sector: “We shall restore faith in our almost collapse financial system and embark on sweeping reforms at the Bank of Ghana. We shall actively pursue robust policies to ensure active local participation in our banking, telecommunications, mining agriculture, agribusiness, and manufacturing sectors,” he said at UHAS.
John Mahama further said “And this will be anchored on our plan to build the economy and will make investments in productive sectors of the economy like agriculture tourism and digitalization to spur growth and generate jobs for the teeming youth to create sustainable employment and not lose hope in our country day by day.
5 . Continue abandoned projects: The former President also promised to complete all abandoned projects he started when he was President.
“With the limited fiscal space we are likely to inherit due to the current state of the economy, a new NDC administration will give priority to continuing and completing abandoned and ongoing projects rather than rushing to commence new ones”.
