Aide to ex-President President John Dramani Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has complimented the former President’s achievements during his term in government.
Kwakye Ofosu emphasized the significant infrastructure advancements made under Mahama’s leadership in contrast to the present administration’s seven-year tenure in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Citi TV’s Face to Face.
Kwakye Ofosu claimed that conditions under Mahama’s administration were noticeably better than those under Akufo-Addo’s administration, comparing the two presidents’ terms of office.
He argued that in every performance measure, the NPP government was inferior than the former president Mahama.
“Our debt was manageable, we were not bankrupt as an economy, and other indices showed that things were not as bad as we have now. As of 2016, when he [Mahama] was leaving office, the country was in much better shape.
“If you look at all sectors of the economy, he has made massive investments to ensure that Ghanaian children have access to education. If you look at health, people still credit him [Mahama] for how we were able to survive COVID-19. But for the investments that he made in the expansive health infrastructure, there was no way we were going to weather the storm, so far as COVID-19 was concerned.
“We have had perennial power difficulty which lasted for decades, we had experienced power outages in the 80s, it happened in the 90s, early 200s under former President J.A Kufour. He took a bold step to ensure that he put in the investments to curtail that difficulty. And made it impossible for generation capacity to be a reason why we would go into power outages.
“Look at the communication sector, water, ICT space. By the time [former] President Mahama left office, 76% of Ghanaians had access to potable water, and that figure has dipped. Because this government has failed to replicate that kind of investment. In almost every sector of our national lives, things were much better than we have today.”
He pointed out that although President Akufo-Addo steadily defends his corrupt appointments, Mr. Mahama moved quickly to remove his officials who were suspected of corruption.
“His [Mahama’s] worst performance in the corruption perception index is better than the best performance of this government. If you look at his proactivity, the zeal at which he went after the people who were alleged to be corrupt under him. You remember the stalwart of NDC, Abuga Pele’s case, in many ways, he was a friend to former President Mahama, but he didn’t hesitate to put him out before the court when allegations of graft were made against him.
“You saw the swiftness in which he acted in Victora Hammah’s case… he immediately fired her, that has not been the case of this current government. President Akufo-Addo has been all too willing to shield corruption appointees.
“He made it impossible for the anti-corruption bodies to do meaningful work, because he prejudices the outcome of an investigation, and he has flatly refused to punish persons who are known to have engaged in corruption. So, there’s no basis for comparison between the NPP and anything former president Mahama did while in office. Former President Mahama on every important indicator completely outperformed the NPP government.”
