Ghana’s President Nana Akufo Addo on Thursday marked a year since he was voted as president of the west African nation.
He won the presidential election in December of 2016 by a landslide margin defeating the incumbent president, John Dramani Mahama but his victory was realized largely due to his numerous promises.
The Ghanaian president promised to build factories in each district of the country, also pledged all constituencies 1 million dollars each.
One year on, these promises are yet to fulfilled, however, the government has begun the implementation of its flagship campaign promise to offer free education to all senior high school students.
Other initiatives like digitalizing the Ghanaian economy and reforming public services are slowly taking place.
On the streets of Accra, there was mixed reaction on the president’s performance so far.
One resident Dorothy Nyarko told Africa Feeds that “There are certain things he promised and I think he is fulfilling some of them. So we take it like that. I think as time goes on he would do everything for us. So let’s take what he is doing for now”.
“So far it is not bad, I think it’s good, I have seen one or two policies he has implemented. If he can do something about the fuel prices its sky-rocketing. With corruption I think it’s not something that can be uprooted right now but so far so good, it’s not that bad,” another Seth Opoku added.
It may not be that bad for Akufo Addo’s supporters but his critics accuse him of allowing the formation of vigilante groups which are causing chaos after failing to get jobs that had been promised. Matthias Ntow, a lawmaker from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), said that the president has failed to improve the living standards of Ghanaians.
Ntow said “He should sit up and ensure that the rights are done in this country. Economically, you can hear how people are suffering, how people are lamenting.”
Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuama, a leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party downplayed the criticism from the opposition. He said it’s too early to judge the president’s performance after only 12 months in office.
“We haven’t gotten there yet but we still have three more years to go. The one district one factory was launched. I know there are still some steps being taken, to roll out. The minister for trade indicated that some districts have already been pencilled for them to start. We are hoping that in the incoming year some of these programs would be actualized”, Nuama said.
A promise to prosecute corrupt officials has also not materialized. Kwame Danso Acheampong is a political analyst and said with the high expectations among Ghanaians, Nana Addo would have to do more in the coming months.
Kwame added that “If you look at the specifics, the deliverables, one of the promises and the major key areas of the president and areas of interest was corruption, if you look at the passion towards the fight against corruption you will come to the conclusion that a lot of it has remained, rhetoric. In general it is difficult to mark the president beyond 40 percent in terms of deliverables and actual performance on the ground.”
40 percent approval rating is more or less the same figure that US President Donald Trump has had for a while. For President Akufo Addo, time to deliver on his promises is slowly but surely ticking away.
Source: Africafeeds.com / Isaac Kaledzi
