We have to change Mahama to make Ghana work - Akufo-Addo

For a government that is going to work for the people, Ghanaians have to vote out President John Mahama's administration, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated.

According to him, “we have one task only. We are going to change the government of John Dramani Mahama, and bring a government that is going to work for the people of Ghana, and make sure that we have our priorities right.”

Speaking at to students of the Pantang Nursing Training School on Saturday as part of his 4-day Greater Accra tour, Nana Addo stated that “Ghana is not a poor land. A land previously called Gold Coast cannot be poor. We are a nation with an abundance of human and natural resources, and, yet we are hungry. That cannot be right. We are coming to change all of these circumstances, so we can bring progress and prosperity to all Ghanaians.”

He assured the thousands of nursing and teacher trainees across the country of the full restoration of their allowances, when, God-willing, he wins this year’s elections.

“You heard Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. He has made a commitment I want to underwrite. We are going to restore your allowances in full, when we come to power, God-willing, in 2017, as we are going to do with teacher trainees”, he stressed.

According to him, the training of more healthcare and education professionals is of the utmost importance, hence the restoration of these allowances, adding that “Ghana needs all the nurses and teachers we can get, [if we are] to build a solid healthcare and educational system.” 

He urged the students to help take the NPP’s message of hope to every part of the Madina constituency and vote massively for the party’s parliamentary candidate for Madina, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique.                                 

Earlier, running mate of Nana Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia had told them that with just GH¢20 billion in revenues (loans and taxes), and without the benefit of oil revenues, the NPP was able to pay nursing trainee and teacher trainee allowances.

However, having inherited an oil economy, and with GH¢200 billion in revenues, Nana Akufo-Addo's running mate bemoaned the cancellation of the teacher trainee and nursing trainee allowances by the Mahama government.

 Dr. Bawumia, in reassuring the nursing students, noted that in the very first budget of an Akufo-Addo government in 2017, “the restoration of nursing trainee and teacher allowances will be a line item in the budget. We shall restore your allowances in full. It will not be a propaganda restoration, but a full restoration of your allowances.”