Taking bold, unpopular decisions have yielded results – NPP

The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, has proffered that taking bold and unpopular decisions has been the hallmark of the NPP government which has always yielded immeasurable results for the country.

He recounted among other issues the unpopular decision by former President Agyekum Kufuor’s administration to opt for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, and the record time it took the government to leave the initiative.

Mr Boadu indicated that the party would not shy away from bold and unpopular decisions since such decisions helped create fiscal space for the country’s progress, growth and development.

Speaking at a press conference in Sunyani, as part of a regional tour where he has been meeting party communicators to train and strengthen their effectiveness and efficiency to communicate and galvanise support and assistance towards consensus building on government policies, programmes and social interventions.

“That initial unpopular decision helped to create fiscal space for the nation’s progress, growth and development, beneficial social intervention schemes, including free maternal health care, national health insurance scheme, capitation grant for basic schools, school feeding programme, mass transportation and employment through national employment programmes.

“The Kufuor-led NPP administration provided workable solutions in the face of difficulties to transform Ghana from a Highly Indebted Poor Country in 2001 to lower middle income country in a record time of eight years, and it took the bold decision of the NPP government to turn around the fortunes of the Ghana National Petroleum Company in striking oil in commercial quantities,” Mr Boadu averred.

He contrasted it with the record of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and described them as only good for the infamous power outages and maintained that bold and unpopular decision making, which was typical of the NPP government, led to cleanup of the financial sector which saved 4.2 million of depositors’ funds.

Mr Boadu explained that the challenging times occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic called for innovative measures, hence the introduction of E-levy was the way to go and stressed on the need for objective discussions and consensus building around the issue.

“Already, it is estimated that E-commerce will hit GHC1 trillion by the end of the year and urged the government to be resolute, steadfast, firm and continue to take the necessary decisions that will benefit the citizenry,” he said.