PRESIDENT MAHAMA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST: “BETTER TO
LOSE THE ELECTONS ON PRINCIPLE THAN WIN USING FALSEHOOD”.
Students had started trooping into the main auditorium to
secure seats for the president’s address, which was expected to commence by
5:30 pm. Members of the TEIN_UCC community had converged to organize the stage
ahead of the scheduled time. Students could be seen stretching for NDC
customized JOHN MAHAMA t-shirts, as the whole auditorium got decorated with the
NDC party colours. The scene got more interesting when a group of “morale boys”
wearing t-shirts labeled, “Spio-Gabrah fan club for Mahama” took over the stage
and were later joined by another group of ladies (doves for Mahama), attracting
cameras from all sides of the human flooded auditorium. Major developmental
projects of the NDC government in the cape coast north constituency were
projected on screen for the crowd to watch, as they impatiently waited for the
arrival of the president.
The president finally arrived at about 8:20pm, and was
greeted with a standing ovation, amidst cheers and shouts of NDC slogans. The vice chancellor of the University of Cape
Coast, Prof. D. D Kuupoli in his welcome address, welcomed and thanked His
excellence the president for willingly making time out of his laborious
campaign schedule to address the university community for the second time this
year. He promised that; on a probable third visit of the president, the
government assigned university roads shall be tarred by then. The chairman of
the university council, Mr. Nana Sam Brew-Butler, introduced the president with
a gimmick, where he referred to the president as a wise man, who has attracted
many awesome accolades for his humility. But before the president mounted the
stage, the deputy minister of education, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, addressed the
mammoth student gathering on the pertinent issues that the president shall
deliberate on, describing the him as a non-disappointing president. He also
acknowledged the changing of the university’s vice chancellor following the expiration
of his 4-year tenure of office as vice chancellor.
The president after his salutation, first addressed the
issues of school fees and the utility fees, as students kept chanting “school
fees, school fees” in loud and louder peaks. He explained that the government
is aware of the economic burdens of students, and as such did not bill students
for utility fees. “As a matter of constitutional provision, government shall
progressively make tertiary education free as GDP grows”, he said. The
president also announced that Government has over the years invested in
providing educational infrastructure for the tertiary institutions, where he
cited infrastructural projects at different stages of completion, at the
University of Cape Coast. The
construction of; administration block – 85%, science complex annex –
60%, medical science building – 75%, sms laboratory complex – 75%, school of
business - 60%, sms library -75%, etc.
He addressed the gathering on the challenges of
globalization, and its adverse effects on national security, where he alluded
to terrorism in fellow African countries like; Nigeria and Burkina Faso. He
said, climate change had also greatly affected world agriculture, which has
directly impacted negatively on national financial economies, and even well
known stable countries like; Venezuela, Nigeria, Brazil, South Africa, and
Saudi Arabia, with higher GDPs are facing financial crisis, leading to the
reduction of government’s subsidies in these countries. Despite this challenge,
Ghana is still able to fair well. He said Ghana’s economic growth was around
4.9% in the first quarter of the year.
The presidential candidate for the NDC further mentioned the
single spine salary structure and poor electricity energy, as other challenges
his government inherited. The single
spine salary structure launched Ghana into a financial malady, so government
went into the IMF bailout to stabilize the micro economy because the cedi was
depreciating sharply. So IMF tamed wages and salaries, through negotiating with
labour ahead of the national budget, so as not to launch government into a
deficit. He also posited that; Ghana has the highest primary school enrolment,
with gender parity at ratio 1:1. This has increased the number of JHS
graduates, so government has promised 200 community day SHSs, and 123 of which
are under construction.
On the issue of Electricity, he said, after Nkrumah
constructed the volta hydro power which was worth 900MW of power, Ghana then
could only use about 300MW, so previous governments had continuously enjoyed
the privilege without caring to add to the power supply. Unfortunately today,
Ghana is experiencing the worse, as the power got very low at a time when
generation of power is now very expensive. He said government however promised
to fix the popular phrase “dumsor” and actually did fixed it. “And now I can
say that; government has finally stabilized electricity, and looks forward to
energy security with the Etuabo gas plant”, he said.
The president again stated that; the NDC manifesto for the
December 7 elections includes a heavy investment in agriculture, to boost the
country’s GDP. He mentioned some major projects undertaken by government; the
Kumasi shoe factory, Komenda sugar factory, which have directly and indirectly
provided jobs for many Ghanaians. He further posited that; Ghana is one of the
leading countries among her African compatriots, and yet we have a group of
people who don’t appreciate it. He said; “when we wake up every day to
concentrate on our failures and what we have not been able do, and become
pessimistic of our country, what progress can we make?”
The long and interesting presidential address ended with
questions and answers, where he answered a question regarding the speculation
that; ECG is to be privatized. He restated that he is a social democrat and
would not sell ECG to any private company. He said government will only allow
room for public/private partnership in the collection of electricity
bills. “The millennium challenge compact
will not lead to the privatization of ECG. ECG will remain a 100% state owned
enterprise,” he declared. Then on a question on restoring teacher trainee
allowances, John Dramani Mahama had this to say; “I am very compassionate but
also principled, better to lose the elections on principle than win using falsehood”.
He indicated that; some people for partisan reasons go about promising that
they would restore teacher trainee allowances, which is obviously false. He is
not reversing government’s decision.
The president of the republic also answered a question on
corruption, he said; government has established the national anti corruption
plan and has prosecuted all public leaders found culpable of corruption.
However Ghana’s constitution does not allow for dealing with suspected corrupt
leaders, until prosecution by a court of law. He again reiterated that the IMF
bailout has immensely benefited Ghanaians through; reduction in inflation to
14%, a stable economic growth, etc. He
said, government has also embarked on the affordable housing system, which
shall afford everybody a house at the preferred location in the near future. On
the issue of graduate unemployment, he finally advised students to look at the
job prospects of certain university courses, and not just accept admission
because such courses are easily available for placement at the university.
