‘Mahama’s Investment Governance Better Than NPP’s Consumption Governance’ - Former Minister

A former deputy Minister of Communications in the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edward Ato Sarpong has praised former president John Dramani Mahama for embarking at a governance policy called an investment module during his tenure.

He said the investment module which was heavy on infrastructure development as executed by previous NDC administration is better than the "consumption module" being embarked by the ruling New Patriotic party (NPP).

Former President Mahama is on record to have embarked on major infrastructure projects in the history of Ghana’s development aside Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Though he lost the 2016 elections painfully, he is credited with many state of the art health facilities including the Quatenary University of Ghana Medical Center, sea port expansion projects, upgrading and expansion of the Kotoka Internaitonal Airport, Kumasi, Tamale and a brand new Airport now ready for commissioning at Ho as well as heavy investment in the energy sector that ended the power crisis before he left power.

Major road projects, the ambitious 200 new Community Day Senior High Schools, water projects, CHIPS compounds among others were embarked under his administration.

On the other hand the NPP led by Nana Akufo Addo is focused on human development module. Free Senior High School programme, Planting for Food and Jobs, allowances for trainee teachers and nurses, a yet to be implemented One District, One Factory initiative targeting job creation among others.

Both may be good, but Mr Sarpong who is a Management Consultant with focus on strategy, strongly believes Ghana needs more investment in infrastructure to open up the economy to accelerate growth.

Speaking to Neil Armstrong Mortagbe on the Morning Xpress on Radio XYZ, Mr Said Mr Mahama took the right path of governance despite the fact that he as voted out of power.

"There are two modules for governing a nation. one is a consumption module and the other is a future or investment module. What H.E former president John Mahama chose was an investment and future module; what his H.E president Akufo-Addo has chosen is a consumption module. ..If we are to be guaranteed the future, the module that we need to pursue in order to get close to countries such as Singapore who were probably much better of 60 years ago; countries like China who were probably much better of 60 years ago is to utilise an investment module in governing our country. That looks more into the future,"he explained.

When asked why a government would be so much into an investment module when citizens have 'bread and butter' issues to deal with on daily basis, Mr Sarpong said it was the best because hard times will always be with citizens, clarifying that Jesus had been quoted in the Bible saying: "The poor will always be with you."

He stressed that people with daily bread issues always wish the next day becomes better hence the approach of president Mahama to invest into the future to secure the unborn generation with the massive infrastructure he undertook is one of the best things that ever happened to Ghana, adding that the steps the then government took resulted in the growth of the country's economy in 2017.

"In Biblical times," he continued, "the greatest strategist of all times, Joseph, even in his time, said that there's a period of plenty and there's a period of famine. So what do you do? You prepare during the period of plenty for the period of famine. That is an investment module; that is a future module. Assuming he said 'there is plenty now eat as much as you can because tomorrow there'll be no food', but he says eat a little and keep a bit more for the day. That's the principle."

He said although, while he was in government, he had observed the challenges citizens were facing especially when there were power fluctuations which affected many businesses, he maintained that the source of the challenge was not from the NDC government but an accumulated challenge which Mr Mahama's predecessors had not dealt with.

To Mr Sarpong, the government had to invest into the power sector which resulted in the arrival of two power barges from Turkey which have added a total of 450MW capacity to directly feed into the national grid.

He therefore urged Ghanaians to be interested in the government that thinks about the future generation and consider voting for former president John Mahama when he decides to lead the NDC into the 2020 polls.