Addressing journalists at a press conference on Thursday, August 13, 2020, National Organiser of the NPP, Sammy Awuku, said the promises of the John Mahama 2020 campaign will not be fulfilled because the candidate failed to deliver on many of his lofty promises when he was President.
Sammy Awuku cited the famous Hope City Project as an example of fantastic projects that former President John Mahama swindled Ghanaians with.
“Working with his very good friend, Roland Agambire, amidst a great fanfare; amidst the brass band, accompanied by international superstars, candidate Mahama went to cut the sod for the $10 billion Hope City Project.
“He promised thousands of jobs and the construction of multiple skyscrapers, comprising businesses, shopping malls and residential facilities. Not knowing he has not even acquired the land for the project,” Sammy Awuku said.
In 2013, John Mahama, as President, grabbed international headlines when he launched a project to build a $10 billion IT hub at Prampram, a town close to the capital city, Accra, within three years.
Dubbed ‘Hope City’, the President promised that it will have Africa's tallest building, at a height of 270m.
Investors said it will be built on empty land and will employ about 50,000 people and house 25,000 people. The project never came to fruition.
Sammy Awuku latched on this dark history of the John Mahama presidency and said the former President was "chief-of-lies".
He warned Ghanaians to be extremely careful when the former President promises to do anything as part of his campaign to return to power.
“They [Ghanaians] should be worried because of the inflated cost of these projects,” he said.
He said John Mahama is “not interested in the outcome and the impact of the project on the lives of the people. He is not interested in the value of money. So when candidate Mahama says he is going to invest $10 billion in infrastructure, Ghanaians must treat it not as a promise but as a threat; not as an infrastructural solution but as a financial scandal.”
File photo: This image circulated in 2013 as an IT university will be built at Hope City