FLASHBACK: NPP gov't has alleviated the suffering of Ghanaians — Bawumia

In a reflection on the tenure of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia stated that the administration has made significant strides in alleviating the hardships faced by Ghanaians.

He indicated that suffering has significantly reduced since 2016.

Dr Bawumia listed a litany of policies that he believes have reduced the suffering of Ghanaians since the NPP assumed power in 2017.

"When you talk about suffering, for sure we have reduced suffering," he said, adding, "You cannot say you have eliminated suffering, but compared to what we inherited from the NDC, we have reduced a lot of suffering," he said.

He pointed out that the Free SHS programme alone is saving parents 2.2 billion Ghana cedis, and that the NPP government is "doing a lot of targeted things" to help Ghanaians.

Dr Bawumia also dismissed the NDC’s "Rescue Ghana Mission" campaign slogan, saying that the country was already rescued in 2017 when the NPP took over. He reminded the public that the NDC government had to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout in 2015 because of economic mismanagement.

He added: "This economy had to be rescued by the IMF," Bawumia said. "They had to go for a rescue, that was the real rescue mission, as a price of mismanagement of this economy."

He added that the NDC government also went off track with the IMF program, which is why it was not successful.

"We have rescued the country and this economy from the mismanagement of John Mahama," he said.

"Now you don't understand what they mean by coming to the rescue; we have rescued the country already, and we are now building upon that," he added.

He cited the restoration of nurses' trainee allowances, the Nation Builders' Corps (collapsed), and the over 2 million jobs created as contributing factors.

Dr Bawumia also contrasted the NPP's record with that of the previous NDC government, noting that the employment freeze in the public sector, graduate unemployment, lack of posting for trained nurses and teachers, Dumsor, and the failure to support the private sector, all contributed to real hardships for Ghanaians before the NPP came to power.

The alleviation of suffering, as articulated by Dr. Bawumia, continues to be a guiding principle for the administration's policies and programmes.