Exposed! NDC doesn’t believe in Mahama’s 24-hour economy

It is quite frightening to hear that the minority NDC, the same political party tentatively seeking to introduce a 24-hour economy, is puzzlingly putting up an irrevocable resistance to the expedient Import Regulatory Bill.

Since the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution, the self-proclaimed social democrats have been opposing social interventions policies and programmes that have been proposed by the successive NPP administrations such as the Free Maternal Care, the NHIS, the Metro Mass Transport, the School Feeding Programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the Free SHS, amongst others.

My dear reader, isn’t it quite unconscionable to hear that the same people, desperately pushing for a 24-hour economy, would mulishly turn around and resist a seemingly advantageous policy such as the Import Regulatory Bill that will most likely boost the economy?

Well, I am not surprised, because it was the same NDC tradition, strongly imbibed with a defeatist mentality, unpardonably sold Dr Nkrumah’s numerous industries, whose ostensible purpose was to augment Ghana’s economic growth.

Truly, it was the NDC tradition that peremptorily adopted a disastrous Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), under the auspices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Regrettably, the vast majority of tangible national assets, including the state-owned enterprises were allegedly sold to friends and families for pittance.

The apparent unfavorable Economic Recovery Programme culminated in a catalog of hardships.

And, on top of the harsh programmes and policies which threatened the economic fundamentals, the population had to clutch itself for food shortages, a situation which the world press somehow ignored in favor of the concurrent Ethiopian famine that resulted in millions of deaths.

Indeed, their desperate attempts to initiate the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) did nothing to improve the unfortunate situation as untold hardships permeated many households.

Starvation, destitution, and irreversible depression, so to speak, visited the vast majority of Ghanaians, hence developing revoltingly ugly collar bones which the humorous Ghanaians renamed as “Rawlings Chain”. That was indeed the pernicious extent of the hunger.

Given the circumstances, we can understand the concerned Ghanaians' genuine apprehension about the feasibility of Mahama’s proposed 24-hour economy.

My dear reader, I have always held a firm and unadulterated conviction that the NDC apparatchiks, who bizarrely take pride in the social democratic ideology, are not in the business of promoting the welfare of the masses, but they are rather on a mission to advance their parochial interests by persistently proselytizing and hoodwinking the unsuspecting voters to gain electoral advantage.

I’m afraid, the 24-hour economy proposal is a sham, comparable to the one-time NHIS premium, promised by the erstwhile Mahama Administration, which was destitute of honesty and integrity.

There have been numerous NDC’s broken Manifesto promises in the past, but the one that will indelibly stencil on discerning Ghanaian's mental sheets is the one-time NHIS premium.

Yes, not all Ghanaians suffer from chronic memory loss and therefore some of us can vividly recollect the NDC government’s previous unfulfilled Manifesto promises.

Do you remember NDC’s previous vague rhetoric and meaningless slogans such as ‘Better Ghana Agenda’, ‘We care for you’, ‘people matter, you matter’, ‘we are transforming lives’?

Since the NDC has an abysmal record on the introduction of rational policies and programmes to impact positively on society, some of us have decided to take the promise of the 24-hour economy with a pinch of salt.

The general belief, however, is that the NDC is only good at running down or canceling crucial social interventions.

It is an illustrative case of social democrats who do not know how to initiate and manage advantageous policies and programmes.

If you may recall, the erstwhile Mahama administration canceled/collapsed the Nurse’s Allowance, the Teacher’s Allowance, SADA, GYEEDA, NHIS, Maternal Care, the School Feeding programme, and the Mass Transport System, amongst others.

One would have thought that individuals who pride themselves as social democrats will be extremely empathetic to the needs of the masses, but this is not the case with the NDC as a party.