Another NDC Empty Promise

- Cabinet �approves� 12,000-unit housing project to woo teachers, health workers for votes The Mills-Mahama led National Democratic Congress government remains unperturbed by its litany of unfulfilled and broken promises and in a period spanning less than one week has made two �gargantuan� promises, all in a desperate move to �deceive� the good people of Ghana for a renewal of mandate at the December 7 polls. As exposed by the New Statesman recently, the Mills-Mahama administration has decided that one way to win the 2012 general election is by making more promises with the hope that Ghanaians will forget their litany of broken promises since 2009. This decision culminated in the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, promising the people of the Northern Region that government, through a $174 million loan, was going to build/upgrade the Tamale Airport into an International Airport. Not surprisingly, another promise has been made. This time it is the Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Hannah Bissiw who has promised the construction of 12,000 housing units for teachers and health workers. The Deputy Minister, who was speaking at the opening of a two-day seminar for Service Estate Managers Association of Ghana in Accra, added that cabinet had given its approval for the construction of the houses. However, information available to the New Statesman indicates that cabinet has not given any approval for such a project to commence. Housing experts contacted by the New Statesman said if the NDC government was truly committed to building housing units for public servants, then the best place to begin such an exercise would be the completion of the 5,000 affordable housing units started by the erstwhile New Patriotic Party government. To appease local housing contractors who have cried foul over the government�s preference for foreign contractors, Dr Bissiw stated that the 12,000 housing units would be constructed by a local contractor. She further added that the money for construction of the 12,000 housing units was yet to be approved by Parliament. Dr Bissiw, who did not give further details on the housing projects, said to further improve the housing deficit in the country, the government was encouraging a public-private partnership in housing delivery for public sector workers to buy on mortgage. Housing experts contacted by the New Statesman have described the so-called 12,000-unit housing project as �an empty promise� and a ruse by the Mills-Mahama led government to woo teachers and health workers into voting for the NDC.