Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has acknowledged the suffering of Ghanaians, stating that their plight has significantly improved since the tenure of former President John Mahama. During the 2016 election campaign, Dr Bawumia highlighted the suffering of Ghanaians as the basis for change.
However, during his media engagement on Sunday, August 25, at the Accra-Movenpick Hotel, Dr Bawumia admitted that despite the ongoing challenges faced by Ghanaians, the country has made significant progress, with measures in place to ease their burden. He highlighted the growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income, as well as the creation of jobs, as evidence of this progress.
“I remember very well in my statement, teachers are suffering, doctors are suffering, nurses are suffering, journalists are suffering and everybody is suffering in 2016, which was the case actually in that regard. But I think that we have moved on significantly since 2016.
“And we can point to a few things, at the end of the day, you reduce suffering broadly, like creating jobs, so that you give people something to do. Or you bring in social interventions to ameliorate the problems, the hardships that are there.
He emphasised, “So, you need to look at what we have done. We have created at least 2.1 million jobs, and per capita income in cedi terms has gone up almost threefold. GDP has gone up, and per capita income has also gone up. We have kept all public sector workers employed.
“We didn’t lay anyone off during COVID-19. We have kept the lights on for 8 years, we suffered so much from “Dumsor”. Nursing and teacher trainees were suffering but we have restored their allowances. We have done quite a bit to reduce the suffering of people.
“I think that, yes, the suffering is there, but we have done a lot of social interventions to ameliorate that suffering, it is not gone, but we can point to things that have gone in to reduce the suffering of our people,” Dr Bawumia stated.
By: Leticia Osei
