'I am happy there is a change of gov't'

Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings has expressed optimism in the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to transform the country.

She told Lexis Bill on Joy FM’s Personality Profile Thursday, the President has started on a positive note with his decisions and appointments since his swearing in on January 7.

"I am happy there is a change...I am very happy...because you can't have a situation where we claim to be doing well, calling ourselves lower middle income group, and [live] in a miserable situation," she said.

Former President Jerry John Rawlings
The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) said the country's economy was destroyed by the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government through bad policies.

"I went round the country and I saw poverty staring at me...the likes of poverty that I hadn't seen since 1982(3) and it gripped my heart and touched every part of my body that this has to change."

National Democratic Party (NDP)
The former First Lady who has been on a war path with the party her husband, former President Jerry John Rawlings founded in 1992 said the country could have been completely crippled had there not been a regime change.

Mrs Rawlings founded the National Democratic Party (NDC) after she defected from the NDC following some misunderstanding over what she said was principles.

"I am tired of the noise [because] at the final analysis I am somebody who believe in honesty and hardwork. As things started changing I advised myself," she said.

2016 NDP Presidential Candidate introducing her running mate

She disclosed her husband was himself displeased with the way some party members treated him because he insisted on probity and accountability.

Mrs Rawlings said the insanity grew to the point that people who were not in the NDC had the temerity to insult the former President. "We reached that level where the respect for the founder was not there," she lamented.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Being the only woman on the country's presidential ballot in 2016, she had one objective, either she wins the election or then Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. She believed the only two people who could lead the country to the coveted Promised Land were herself and Mr Akufo-Addo.

At the end of the poll, Mr Akufo-Addo won the election by 53.3 percent based on figures released by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Former President John Mahama
Mrs Rawlings said the best thing that has happened to the country after the 2016 polls is the change of government because things were getting gloomier by the day.

"You leave Accra and the situation is miserable...no capital city in Africa have I seen this kind of filth like it is in Accra," she said. "We steal everything and we can't even clean our city."

She entreated persons who are claiming the new government has underperformed since taking over the reign of government to exercise patience since it has been given a four-year term.

"A party has taken eight years to destroy us and you expect somebody to use 100 days to fix it?" she quizzed, adding the President Akufo-Addo government should be allowed to change the country for the better.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brako-Powers | [email protected]

'I am happy there is a change of gov't' – Nana Konadu