Yen.com.gh explores the various success and achievements of president of the republic, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo in the span of 10 months.
Having lost two elections in a row (2008 and 2012 elections), the victory of President Akufo-Addo in the 2016 general elections came as no surprise to many Ghanaians who believed that now was the time to take on the helm of leadership in Ghana’s fourth Republic.
Nana Addo’s landslide victory ( 53.85%) against his two time fierce contender, John Dramani Mahama – who was also the incumbent president of Ghana not only deepened Ghana’s democratic credentials but also gave the West African country the edge against many other African economies.
During his inauguration and swearing in ceremony, the president of Ghana reiterated his commitment to ensuring that Ghana not only remains open to business but also continue to be the beacon of democracy in the whole of sub-saharan Africa.
But it’s been exactly 10 months since the president took office and all too soon, his administration can boast of major projects and achievements under the abled leadership of the 72 year-old president.
YEN.com.gh has closely been monitoring the achievements and progress of the NPP administration and has thus compiled quite a list of them
1. Planting for food and jobs
One of the major achievements of the Akufo-Addo led administration has been the planting for food and jobs policy. This policy, which is expected to create in excess of 750,000 jobs to Ghanaians is also aimed at reinvigorating Ghana’s low performing agric sector which currently stands at the bottom of sectors in terms of contribution to GDP.
2. One District One Factory
It came as a shock to most Ghanaians and political critics when government in August converged on the Ekumfi Fruit Processing Factory in the Central Region for the launch of the one district one factory program. The aim of this policy is aimed at industrializing Ghana’s economy through the local production of goods. This policy is with the objective of establishing one factory across all 216 district in the country – a move aimed at creating a self-sufficient economy among districts in the country.
3. End of Dumsor
Ghana’s protracted energy crisis is feared to have caused the nation in excess of $3 billion. That’s according to the vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who has maintained that the coming on board of the NPP administration changed Ghana’s energy sector for the best! One of the major challenges faced the energy sector remains the compounded $2.4 billion energy sector debt which according to Nana Addo has seen government devise innovative ways of clearing or refinancing it once and for all.
4. Paperless Port System
For years now, doing business in Ghana has remained a grave challenge especially with the bottlenecks at the Tema Ports.
The clearance of goods at these ports do not just take weeks but also see clients suffer from the hands of “ goro boys” who act as middlemen in ensuring that one gets his or her goods cleared as fast as possible.
This stark development has caused massive corruption at the ports so bad that former president Mills of blessed memory stormed the Tema harbour to vent his spleen at port officials.
But the NPP administration has come up with a clear system that would not just ease the congestion at the ports but also improve efficiency and revenue generation there!
5. Free SHS
The launch of the much awaited Free SHS policy shook Ghana’s political spectrum to the core! For all political critics who said the program was never going to succeed, all they could say now was; “Let’s wait and see”.
But the implementation of the free senior high school policy has not only seen over 400,000 students benefit from free tuition in the SHS level but also added a shine to universal basic education in Ghana today.
But when asked how government intends to pay for this massive investment in free SHS, Nana Addo revealed that the payments would be done through the gains from Ghana’s rich oil reserves.
6. More oil with opening of FPSO Kufuor
Within the 10 months of the Nana Addo administration, his government has been able to successfully start oil production from the valve of the Kufuor FPSO at the Sankofa-Gye Nyame oil fields.
What this means is that the Akufo-Addo government will now be able to rake in more investments in the oil and gas sector.
7. ITLOS Maritime ruling victory
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its ruling on the four-year-old maritime dispute between Ghana and its Western neighbour, Ivory Coast.
There had been concerns over the effect of the ruling on Ghana’s oil production but for him the ruling was not going to affect Ghana’s oil production.
Even though this remained a bi-partisan victory among the NPP and NDC, there is no doubt in our minds that the victory could also remain in the glory books of the party.
