Three years after Ghanaians elected candidate Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo as president of the country, some citizens are demanding for answers to a statement they say earned him some extra votes in the December 2016 elections.
Leading the flock is former president John Mahama who while addressing some traders in the Volta Region last week, asked his successor where the money 'he was sitting on is.'
Some Ghanaians who spoke to Ghanaweb today October 11, 2019, on the reflection of the president’s statement in their current economic condition had varied opinions to share.
Some say they firmly believe the president has actually delivered.
“The money has manifested in a lot of ways and we are witnesses to it. Some of it is being pushed into the Free SHS policy. Ghanaians are no more hungry.” A trader told Ghanaweb.
For others, the use of the Free SHS policy as a defence to their concerns of economic hardship is one that has just been overused. They say beyond the Free SHS policy they are yet to see anything else that justifies the president’s statement in 2016 and his ability to prove it.
“If the president will say he needs another term to make the money manifest I will understand him but as it stands now I am yet to see anything that proves him right. For us the ordinary citizens beside the Free SHS we are yet to see any other significant impact our lives has had under his tenure.” Another trader expressed.
Others who also use Nana Addo’s statement to measure their economic condition between now and the Mahama administration, said things have gone from bad to worse for them.
“He told us we were sitting on money but we are hungry, since he came it has been worse than before, because back then we use to buy fuel around GHC25.” A driver told Ghanaweb.
In November 2016, during the peak of the campaign period, then candidate Akufo Addo said the people of Ghana should not be allowed to starve whiles the country is sitting on wealth.
In his assertion, the numerous natural resources that abound in the country should be enough to ensure a good economic life for every Ghanaian.
He blamed then president John Mahama and his for government for using Ghana’s resources to enrich themselves at the expense of the electorates.
To many Ghanaians, that statement by Nana Addo played a significant role in winning their hearts and votes.
With former president Mahama already pressing the reminder bottom of Ghanaians, it will not be wrong to predict that an evaluation of the president’s performance based on his statement in November 2016 will affect the choice of the electorate on who wins the presidential race in 2020.
