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Opinions of Wednesday, 14 November 2018

Columnist: Nii Ayitey Armah

Chronicles of a deceitful president

President Nana Akufo-Addo President Nana Akufo-Addo

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool the people all the time" Phineas T. Barnum

The inspiration of P.T. Barnum's quote above was borne out of the numerous unrealistic and deceitful promises made by then Akuffo-Addo prior to the 2016 general elections to gain political power. Akuffo-Addo promised Ghanaians heaven but today, he is delivering the opposite.

In opposition, Akuffo-Addo made Ghanaians believed that Mills/Mahama government was worse and has brought untoward hardships to Ghanaians.

He claimed Mills/Mahama government can't address the basic needs of Ghanaians but when given the nod, he will reverse the hardships and make Ghana a HEAVEN on EARTH.

Today, Akuffo-Addo is the President and he is delivering the opposite of what he preached prior to 2016 elections. Basic needs like Shelter, Water, Sanitation, healthcare, education, among others are not his priority but rather building a NATIONAL CATHEDRAL, GHANA CARD, GHANAPOST GPS, CREATION OF NEW REGIONS among others are what he prioritize.

Citizens die because of no bed syndrome, no footbridges on our roads, no street lights, no portable water among others and the President sees using ?923 million in creating new region as his priority.

The President when in opposition promised Ghanaians to roll out policies which will make Ghana a safe Haven to live. Where are those policies? 1D1F, 1V1D, $1million per year per constituency, Move from taxation to production among others.

Akuffo-Addo deceived Ghanaians that taxation is a lazy man's approach to revenue generation but will focus on production to generate revenue. What are we experiencing today? Taxes which they refer to as nuisance has become the order of the day.

VAT have been increased through a different tax regime, import duties have ballooned, special tax levy, income tax and production cost have all gone up. Today ordinary PURE WATER which is a basic necessity is sold at 30pesewas due to the lies peddled by Akuffo-Addo and his government.

As if not enough, Akuffo-Addo's promise of protecting the public purse has been a mere RHETORIC. Akuffo-Addo has the large and largest government in the history of world politics.

This is evident in the appointment of 111 ministers by Akuffo-Addo. Also Akuffo-Addo has over 1600 staffers at the presidency as against Mahama's 672 which Akuffo-Addo referred to as OVERBLOATED.

On corruption, the least talked about the Incorruptible Akuffo-Addo,the better. Numerous corrupt cases have been leveled against his government and nothing have been done about it.

Even the office of the special prosecutor is yet to be resourced to enable him discharge his mandate almost several months of setting it up.

Cases like the Australia Visa scandal, the premix scandal, the Bost scandal, the GCMC scandal, the evaporated fuel scandal, the GMA scandal and many more are still hanging.

Akuffo-Addo was on record to have lambasted JDM for creating family and friends government. Interestingly, Akuffo-Addo's government has being the nepotistic of all time in the world.

This include her daughter, baby mama, direct relatives, indirect relatives as well as friends and in-laws. If Akuffo-Addo is not deceitful, will he practice what he preached against?

To sum up, I urge Akuffo-Addo to practice what he preached prior to 2016 general elections and stop resorting to deceitful approach to governance. 2020 is just around the corner and Ghanaians have realized the deceit and lies of Akuffo-Addo and will surely boot him out of office come 2020..