Short of four days, the NPP would clock three months in office. So in ten days, the Government would record its symbolic 100 days in office. So far, His Excellency has confirmed that he’s in a hurry indeed to deal with the herculean tasks on his plate.
The haste with which the President has filled almost all the political offices with a team made up of a blend of old and fresh personalities prove that he was prepared for the political office which he had probably eyed and prayed about the greater part of his life.
So far, everything seems to be on course for President Nana Akufo-Addo and his team. The private sector is upbeat and seems to be willing and ready to hold the hands of the president up to achieve his targets for Ghana. This was on display when the Ghana at 60 committee was launched and the president appealed to corporate Ghana to pick the anniversary bill of GHc20m.Various organizations were on board and still contributing towards the project.
There are various pledges from organizations to support the One-District -One Factory project which is one of the flagship projects in the NPP’s manifesto. Last week, the UMB blazed the trail by announcing to the president its 100 million Dollar fund towards supporting that course. Very encouraging indeed.
To Mr President, I say, your honey moon has been good so far but that is where some of us would like to pinch you and your team to make the most of it whilst it lasts because the real business is for four years and things could take a different turn along the way.
Truth is, this NPP government like that of Ex-President Kufuor’s has come into office with a lot of goodwill. Like in 2000, the NDC government in power had a lot of challenges to deal with; including plummeting cocoa and gold prices on the world market, rising unemployment and job losses in the public sector etc so there was crave for a regime change. And it happened. President Kufuor rode to power in the second round with almost 60 % of the popular vote. There was a lot of goodwill.
However, in President Kufuor’s re-election bid in four years he won with 52%, showing a slump in the goodwill by the populace. Come 2008, the party lost it when Nana was making his first shot at the presidency. Nana’s final victory in 2016 was in a grand style with millions of Ghanaians rooting for him with lamentations of ‘pocketmiasis’ from the NDC’s ‘Tekpenomics’ which didn’t seem to put money in the ordinary Ghanaian’s pocket, though Ex-president Mahama rolled out projects.
So far the support for President Nana Addo hasn’t waned. And that is where I put in a plea that the President and his team keep the momentum. There must be consistency in actualizing the manifesto promises. Every effort must be made to deliver and not give any inclination of suspicion that the promises were fluke and were used for political gain. The Ghanaian voter is becoming very unpredictable so any sign that the Government is shifting the goal posts at any point in time would result in a shift in goodwill.
My plea also is that the appointees and Government spokespersons should know that the work is done in the field and not in the media. The media politicking should reduce and give way to walking the talk. There’s the temptation to spend time responding to critics instead of working to provide what Government has promised to do. The talking part should be left for the party and its communicators and still in medeartion.
They should remind themselves constantly that honey moons don’t last.
By Kojo Ackaah-Kwarteng,
Head of Station, Onua 95.1