Akufo-Addo Handling Of COVID-19 Deserves A Thunderous Applauds — NPP

A leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Dabie Appiah-Mensah, says President Akufo-Addo deserves thunderous applause for his show of maturity in the handling of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Mr. Appiah-Mensah, who is a former NPP Regional Organizer of the then Brong Ahafo Region, is therefore calling on the leadership of NPP and the party’s communicators to make deliberate efforts at highlighting the President’s yeoman’s role in containing the spread of the deadly coronavirus in the country.

In an interview with Modernghana News in Sunyani, Mr. Appiah-Mensah said the President sounded philosophical when he stated that “We know what to do to bring our economy back to life. What we do not know is how to bring people back to life.”

According to him, had he (the President) heeded to the call by opposition NDC elements to evacuate Ghanaians in China during the upsurge of the virus, the situation would have been out of control for the country by now, describing the President’s decision as a wise one.

Mr. Appiah-Mensah expressed worry that the communication machinery of the NPP is not being proactive enough to effectively propagate the numerous achievements chalked under President Akufo-Addo’s first term in office and the need to give him the opportunity to rule for one more term.

The former Regional Organizer said party functionaries and communicators must not wait till elections are approaching before they begin to explain the various government interventions to the citizenry but ensure a much more robust communication strategy that feed people with the right information to enable them make informed decisions during the elections.

Pro-poor interventions

“From the inception of our political tradition, our focus has always been to reach out to the poor and the marginalized in society and so you would recall that during the Dr. Busia’s time, a lot of attention was given to rural development”, Mr. Appiah-Mensah said.

“You would also remember the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Free Maternal Care, School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant, Metro Mass Transport and several other social interventions under the Kufuor-led NPP administration from 2001 to 2009.”

Continuing, Mr. Appiah-Mensah stated that “it is this same pro-poor blueprint which seeks to empower the under-privileged in society that is being followed through by President Akufo-Addo.

This, he explained, has culminated in the introduction of Free Senior High School policy, Planting for Food and Jobs programme, Planting for Export and Rural Development, One-Village, One-Dam policy, One-District, One-Factory initiative and the digitization of the economy are just a few of the numerous social interventions being implemented by the current administration to help the poor in society.

The former NPP Regional Organizer appealed to the party’s incumbent Members of Parliament, Ministers of State and the various appointees to put aside their personal interest and rather highlight/project the President’s unparallel achievements to secure another resounding electoral victory for the party in the next general elections.

Bold attempts

Mr. Appiah-Mensah further touted the President's bold attempt to pursue a Ghana Beyond Said agenda as well as putting his presidency on the line in the fight against illegal mining popularly called galamsey.

He explained that all these points to the fact that President Akufo-Addo is looking at the future of the country and not just the short-term development needs of the people.

"In all these, it's clear that Ghana has a brighter future under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and so Ghanaians should give him four more years to do more", Mr. Appiah-Mensah concluded.

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