PPP Must Concentrate On Building A Formidable Party Than Running Into The Gutters

Probably buoyed by the need to break the dormancy which appears to have gripped the party since the 2016 elections came to an end, the Progressive People's Party has thought it expedient to let its voice heard in a manner that defies conventional logic.

In a statement signed by Murtala Mohammed, the National Secretary of the Papa Kwesi Nduom's PPP, the opposition party paints a doomful picture of how far the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration has managed the affairs of the state, and concludes that the New Patriotic Party government is not substantially poles apart from the dethroned Mahama/Amissah-Arthur-led NDC administration.

According to the statement, the ills which befell the NDC appear to have crept into the folds of the current government. In conclusion, the PPP believes that the Akufo-Addo administration's performance is below average.

While it is their democratic right to express their views on happenings in our governance system, it is important that honesty is allowed to dictate the pace in such matters. The gloomy picture being painted by the PPP about how far we have come as a government is a far cry from the realities as displayed on the ground.

It is disturbing that an economy as ramshackle as was bequeathed to the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration would be expected by the PPP to transmogrify from that state of disrepair and despair to one which can be likened to paradise in just one year.

Ghana's economy got pulverized under the eight years of NDC rule, a situation that gave birth to the country growing at a slower pace of 4.6% in the third quarter of 2016. As at 2017 under Akufo-Addo/Bawumia, growth rate stood at a surprising 9.3% in the third quarter. If this quantum leap means nothing to the PPP, then one wouldn't be far from right in safely concluding that the party just feels its voice has to be heard, nothing more, nothing less.

Rome was not built in a day, but the achievements of this young government cannot be underemphasized. Let me enunciate a few of them for readers to digest;

A. Free Senior High School.

B. Restoration of allowances for teacher and nursing trainees.

C. More than half of the debts owed in the National Health Insurance Scheme have been settled.

D. Contractors are being paid their arrears.

E. Teachers and health workers have had their arrears paid.

F. Planting for food and jobs commenced.

G. Fertilizer products have had their prices halved.

H. Formalization of the economy.

I. Paperless transaction module launched.

J. Digital Addressing System implemented.

K. One District, One Factory commenced.

L. Bill for the Development Authorities passed and assented.

To top all these, the fight against corruption has received a boost with the establishment of the Special Prosecutor's Office.

The bit about corruption being pervasive under Akufo-Addo is as baseless as the other issues raised and only seeks to rely heavily on the palpable fabrications the NDC has been going to town with.

The foundations laid by the administration to propel the country to the heavenly destination so envisaged are very impregnable, and ought to be supported.

It, therefore, cannot be true that the NPP's performance in one year is not worth clapping for.

It is unfathomable, putting it mildly, how the PPP, in the face of these hardcore facts, would seek to throw this sensationalized and inaccurate assertion out there.

The buoyancy with which the PPP issued this statement which is fraught with faults and flaws, one would expect that the same energy would be injected into reorganizing the party to make it become the envy of all the other opposition parties.

Ghana's democratic credentials are known and revered worldwide, and there is, therefore, the need to maintain it, but it can only be done when we throw extreme partisanship into the gutters and look at issues dispassionately.

P.K.Sarpong, whispers from the corridors of THE THINKING PLACE.

Source: P.K. Sarpong/ email: [email protected]