Kufuor's Gov't Is A Failure -Dauda

The Brong Ahafo regional chairman of the NDC, Alhaji Collins Dauda has described Mr. Kufuor's government as an abysmal failure, having failed to deliver on the "sweet sweet promises" they made to the Ghanaian electorate during the 2000 electioneering.

Alhaji Collins Dauda recalled that in the run-up to the 2000 elections, the NPP sponsored television and radio adverts with women and children complaining that school fees and the cost of living were too high. He said the adverts clearly promised that if voted into power, Mr. Kufuor and his NPP would ensure that school fees were reduced and the cost of living generally would reduce to ensure a better living standard for the Ghanaian.

However, Alhaji Dauda lamented, since Mr. Kufuor and his NPP came into office, the cost of living has rather shot-up beyond imagination. He noted that boarding fees in secondary schools has risen from ¢187,000.00 in the year 2000 to ¢578,000.00, petrol has been increased from ¢6,400.00 per gallon in 2000 to ¢20,000.00, while water, electricity, and telephone tariffs have gone up more than three hundred percent.

Alhaji Dauda noted that the cost at which Ghanaians accessed such social services as health and sanitation has also gone up.

He noted that things are so bad that a cutlass that was being sold at ¢13,000.00 in 2000 is now being sold at not less than ¢40,000.00, whereas a bag of cement, being sold at ¢22,000.00 in 2000, now costs ¢56,000.00 in some parts of the country.

Alhaji Dauda bemoaned the fact that in the face of all these crunching economic conditions that the Ghanaian has been forced to live under, the Kufuor regime actually slashed down workers salaries; pointing out that Ghanaians do not need any more evidence of the insensitive nature of Mr. Kufuor's elitist NPP.

It would be recalled that when Ghanaians were complaining about the unusually high increase in electricity tariffs, one of Mr. Kufuor's most trusted lieutenants, Dr. Charles Yves Wereko-Brobbey went on record saying people should not buy necessary household electronics gadgets if they cannot afford to pay the exorbitant tariffs, a clear suggestion that as far as the NPP is concerned the needs of the poor are not their concern at all.