“Government committed to...” The lying phrase of the NDC government.

Government committed to ensuring quality education; government committed to improving the economy; government committed to road safety; government committed to transparency in governance; government is committed to....... Enough!!!!! I have heard this phrase in three years more than I have heard my own name called in my entire life. Yet I have never witnessed in my life a government that is so development lazy as the NDC government. Every turn of the daily newspaper, the electronic press and news files flashes the headline “Government committed to .....” and yet we do not see anything that the government does after that or has done prior to that news headline. Below are some of the “government is committed” headlines that have been used to throw dust in people's eyes between January and December this year.

January 27, 2011- “Dormaa-Akwamu (B/A) Jan. 27, GNA - Mr Eric Opoku, Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, has underscored the Government's commitment to providing requisite facilities for quality and relevant education at the basic, second cycle and tertiary education levels to adequately prepare the youth for responsibilities in the future.” Yet there is shortage of school space (numbers) across all stages of the educational structure and SHS students are still fighting for placements even under “computerised” system

February 22, 2011 “Akpafu-Todzi (V/R), Feb. 22 GNA - The Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Colonel Cyril Necku (Rtd), has said that the government was committed to improving education infrastructure to facilitate teaching and learning. He said the sod-cutting ceremony performed by President John E. A. Mills for work to start on the University of Health and Allied Sciences demonstrated the government's resolve to bring equity in the construction of public universities.” The lands for the universities are now “zoos”. The NDC government has not added a single hostel to any public university in Ghana.

March 14, 2011 Tamale, March 14, “GNA - Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, Minister of Education has reiterated government's commitment to improving the conditions of service of the staff of the polytechnics, when they are finally migrated unto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).” However beyond committing to everything under the sun, the NDC does practically nothing. This is biggest do little government in the entire 54years of Ghana's history.

May 12, 2011 Accra, May 12, “GNA - Mr Mahama Ayariga, Deputy Minister of Education on Thursday said government is committed to catering for the welfare of teachers since a happy teacher would always be prepared to deliver quality services to pupils.” Beyond this statement the government has done nothing to cater for the welfare of teachers.

Sunday 29 May 2011 – “The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, has said Government is committed to taking adequate steps to motivate teachers and enhance their welfare to improve education in the country.” Yet when Nana Akufo-Addo mentioned the Teachers First policy, the NDC poopoed it and never welcomed it.

Thursday 21 July 2011 - Vice president John Dramani Mahama says government is committed to ensuring that the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) succeeds and benefit the people of the three northern regions. – Yet three years on after creating SADA we are still talking about “the Authority will work through the district assemblies and civil society organisations to help address poverty in the North” according to Mr. Gilbert Seidu Iddi, Chief Executive of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). The government is still talking about the potential to use SADA to develop many sectors in agriculture and that the Authority would help modernize agriculture, add value to crops that farmers would produce and find markets for them.

Accra, July 31, “GNA – Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, said government was committed to empowering unemployed youth to acquire vocational skills to enable them to set up their own businesses and bring equity in the construction of public universities.” Yet for the first time in Ghana we have Unemployed Graduates Association.

Accra, Aug. 1, “GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Monday renewed government's commitment to establishing a National Shea Board to institute regulatory measures in the shea industry.” Where is the Board? We are now in December.

17th November 2011 – “Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said Government is committed to fully implement the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) to address and eventually remove the remaining distortions and inequities in public service remuneration.” Yet the government fights doctors in the trenches.

This is a typical example “Accra, Dec 03, GNA - Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education, on Saturday re-affirmed government's commitment to ensure quality education, saying it will not relent in supporting the growth of academic institutions in the country.” Yet the government has for three years not added any square metre to the growth of academic institutions. The two universities we were promised are still on fallow lands. School children are not paying school fees in basic school but are being asked to pay towards building funds. This means children school fees now include cement and wheel barrow.

A government committed to reducing petroleum prices ends up increasing it seven times illegally and pocketing over GHC166m. The NDC tells us we are all in this together but well some are more in it than others. The government is refusing to give back to the state this “stolen” GHC166m and are threatening to go on appeal against refunding the money to the state.

The government says it is committed to transparency in our oil management and yet in its first year of production, we have a whopping 4.58milion barrels of crude oil still unaccounted for. The government is locked in a serious contention with the Tullow oil as to how much crude oil had been produced and sold. While Tullow says it has bought 22million barrels, the government is saying they have sold only 17.42 to Tullow. Amazing! The buyer says I owe you 22million, and the seller says no you owe me 17.42 million. This can happen only under the ever “committed” NDC government. Another “transparency” story is the battle of figures between Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur's BoG and Dr. Duffuor's Finance Ministry. According to Amissah Arthur, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, (BoG) “Ghana earned $1.97 billion from the export of crude oil from January to September 2011”. But during the Budget Hearing in Parliament in 16th Nov 2011, Dr Kwabena Duffour, Minister of Finance said “the total volume of crude oil from the first three lifting amounted to 2,980,720 barrels which realized a total sum of US$337.3 million (GH¢ 506.0 million).

The NDC is a government of promise and words. Beyond the words, there is no action or even a plan of action. The cost of the setting up the platforms for these government officials to go and make these empty promises without any output is the reason why we are still poor as a country. NDC government came to power on the back of lies and empty propaganda. They have stayed in government for three years on the back of this propaganda and lies. It is the same lies and propaganda that will send them back to opposition

Kwesi Atta-Krufi Hayford.