#FixTheCountry: There is hope

On the back of many difficulties and despair, the NPP was given the reins of government in 2016 by the good people of Ghana.

With a strong leadership, the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led government set out to fix the country and through pragmatic programs and policies, the folowing have been achieved:

1. Reduced inflation from 15.4% in 2016 to 10.4% at the end of 2020.

2. Reduced average lending rates from 32% in 2016 to 21% in 2020.

3. The average exchange rate depreciation over the last four years (7.3%) is the lowest for any first term government since 1992. The year 2020 recorded the lowest rate of depreciation in the last 28 years.

4. Cleaned up the mess in the financial sector that we inherited and saved the deposits of 4.6 million depositors.

5. Ghana has been consistently one of the fastest growing economies in the world for each of the last four years. Notwithstanding the decline of GDP growth to 0.9% in 2020 as a result of COVID-19.

6. For the first time in over two decades, the trade balance (the difference between what we export and what we import) recorded a surplus for four consecutive years from 2017-2020.

7. Ghana’s Gross International Reserves increased from $6.1 billion (3.5 months of imports) in 2016 to $8.6 billion in 2020 (4.1 months of imports).

8.Ghana successfully exited the IMF program.

9. Ghana’s sovereign credit rating upgraded from B- in 2016 to B with a stable outlook. First upgrade in 10 years.

10. Planting for Food and Jobs has increased food production. It has led to a 71% increase in the national production of maize and 34% in paddy rice.

11. Established the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Progam (NEIP) .

12. Introduced a pension scheme for cocoa farmers. The first such scheme since independence.

13. Established a Tree Crop Development Authority with a focus on mango, cashew, rubber, oil palm, shea and coconut.

14. Implemented the One District One Warehouse initiative.

15. Implemented One District, One Factory Initiative. In four years, 76 companies are in operation under 1D1F.

16. The new Automotive Sector Development Policy has resulted in VW, Sinotruk, Kantanka Group, and Nissan all assembling vehicles in Ghana.

17. The Akufo-Addo led government has established the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC), both of which are progressing steadily in the development of these industries.

18. Established the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) with 100,000 graduates employed.

19. Recruited nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers, teachers, police officers, and many others in the public sector after many years of employment freeze under the previous Government. At least 550,000 public sector workers recruited.

20. Import duties reduced by 30%-50%

21. Lowest average annual increase (8.25%) in petroleum prices in the fourth republic

22. Restarted the operations of Anglogold Ashanti’s Obuasi Mine, the Ghana Publishing Company, WAMCO, as well as GhanaPost with attendant job creation.

25. Enrolled 15.5 million people on the biometric National ID card (Ghanacard) scheme.

23. The government has implemented a digital address system capturing every square inch of land or water in Ghana.

24. Implemented the ground breaking Mobile Money interoperability (MMI) project. Ghana is the only country in the world that has thus far implemented our version of MMI.

25. Ghana is currently the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa. Ghana has 36.9 million registered mobile money accounts.

26. Ghana is the first country in the world to implement a Universal QR Code payment system that accommodates both bank accounts and mobile wallets.

27. We have made it easy for people to renew their national health insurance membership on their phones without having to spend precious time in long queues.

28. ECG customers can now easily buy pre-paid electricity units conveniently from wherever you are from your mobile phone.

29. The online passport application processes are helping many people and making it easier to obtain a passport.

30. Digitization at the port, elimination of long room, and streamlined inspections, enhanced enforcement has made it easier to clear goods and curbed corruption in the process.

President Akufo-Addo's government has given more to the citizenry than any government under the 4th Republic.

We were struck by the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Admittedly, we are currently in some difficulties as a people but there is hope. Based on our track record, you can trust the Nana Addo led administration to fix the current difficulties.

This is a collective responsibility and with your support, we can fix this country and indeed, we are fixing it. There is Hope!