Past governments have paid lip service to Ghana’s development - Bawumia

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is of the view that successive governments have failed to work towards the development of the country as their tenures have been characterized by lip service.

This he observed has not resulted in the needed development required to eradicate poverty that has engulfed the country in the last couple of years reiterating the commitment of the current administration to move from this norm.

“There has been a lot of lip service paid by successive governments in this country. I can assure you that government under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will focus on the development of the country and not tow line of the previous administrations”, he stated.

He disclosed that the current government is one that will focus primarily on development and ensure that the suffering of the citizenry is ameliorated.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said development has to be at the grassroot level but has been of top-down approach. He noted that the country has been passing budgets over the years but the country is sixty years but has villages without potable drinking water, toilet and other very basic facilities.

The Vice President said there must be something wrong with the paradigm the country has pursued over the first sixty years because it has excluded a lot of people in the rural areas.

He indicated that the government is implementing some initiatives including the Infrastructure For poverty Eradication programme which is to be driven by the development authorities and is geared towards poverty eradication.

“Thankfully, the bill was passed last week by Parliament so we will have the Northern Development Authority, Coastal Development Authority and Middle Belt Authority. These Development Authorities will become the vehicle that will drive the grassroot development that we seek.”

He indicated that government is ensuring that every constituency in the country will be provided with the equivalent of one million dollars to ensure that the basic needs of the constituencies are met adequately.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia hinted that the three Development Authorities set up by government with partner with the University for Development in implementing its mandate due to the unique nature of the university.