According to Fiifi Kwetey, the NPP did not need to make as many promises as they did to win the elections, and would probably not have made many of those assurances to the Ghanaian public had they known.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RAcs5gBwz1lzVG7Q1fXEEOZif9NbHN1U”]“This is a government that won amidst a lot of promises. I sometimes believe that if NPP had a clue that they did not really need to promise that much, maybe they wouldn’t have. Having made all those promises and come into office, they are wondering why they made all so much,” Fiifi Kwetey said on Eyewitness News on Monday.

“I’m sure that if NPP were truly sensing the ground, they would have realised that they didn’t need to have made the kind of promises they made because that has been the biggest difficulty for them. The fact that they went overboard, made quite a number of promises and now they’ve come to office and realized that going through these promises it comes with a lot of economic difficulties.”

The NPP made a number of assurances leading up to the elections last December, including promises to provide free Senior High School education, one factory in every district and one dam in every village in the three regions of the north.

The government has already rolled out the Free SHS programme, which began in September whilst at least 173 factories are reportedly ready to be rolled out as well.

A number of observers have suggested that the promises that were made by the NPP, contributed significantly to their victory in the elections.

However, Fiifi Kwetey argued that the economy was already in a ‘difficult’ position under the NDC, and the lack of jobs had bred dissatisfaction among the Ghanaian youth.

“I believe what really determined the election wasn’t so much the promises of the NPP. It was generally a certain groundswell of dissatisfaction, especially coming from the young people who actually believed that they needed to see jobs. I think the unemployment factor was the most important factor that really went into the loss,” he added.

“Beyond that, cost of living factored into it as well. Between 2013 and 2015, we had to take certain measures that were difficult, we needed to remove subsidies, inflation went up, the cedi had problems. Things were definitely difficult and clearly, everyone knew it was going to be a difficult election.”

‘Gov’t struggling to raise revenue’

The government has come under fire from the Minority for their supposed plan to impose taxes on mobile money transactions in the country.

Speaking at a Breakfast meeting on Monday with stakeholders ahead of the 2018 budget and economic policy in Accra, Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, said they are reliably informed that government is nursing such intentions, something they believe will threaten financial inclusion.

Fiifi Kwetey reiterated these concerns, stating that government was only trying to find ways to raise the revenue they had lost as a result of their desire to fulfill promises made during the campaign.

Describing the reported taxes on mobile money transactions as a “big slap to the efforts to increase the formalisation of the economy,” he criticized the government for what he believes is an attempt to take advantage of ordinary Ghanaians.

“The government came amidst a lot of plans to accomplish things and those plans clearly needed to be brought into manifestation by the mobilization of revenue.Unfortunately, because of the promises, the government also was compelled to reduce taxation. So it means that already they had removed some tax handles. Their expectation was that by reducing the taxes, they would trigger the growth of the economy which would offset the reduction but that has not happened,” he said.

“There was talk during the campaign that there was so much corruption that all you needed to do was to reduce corruption and somehow you are going to just free revenue and that is going to be used for development. From every indication, they’ve not been able to do that as well. They’ve really not been able to bring the transformation as far as revenue is concerned which is clearly putting them into difficulties. They now have to find indirect ways of raising money.”

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post NPP has regretted making numerous promises – Fiifi Kwetey appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to Fiifi Kwetey, the promise of change being touted by Akufo-Addo is “fake” and cautioned Ghanaians to beware.

Speaking at the Setting the Records Straight forum in Accra on Wednesday, Fiifi Kwetey said president John Mahama has already started the authentic change Ghanaians need.

“Ghana does not need any fake change; the change must be the right kind of change. The change that the NPP is proposing is a fake change. NDC under the President Mahama is already bringing the authentic positive change that our country needs.”

Fiifi Kwetey, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ketu South Constituency, argued that, Nana Akufo-Addo cannot ensure positive change in his own party, let alone the people of Ghana because “everything Nana Addo touches turns from bad to worse.”

Overview of Nana Addo’s major promises

Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP have accused the Mahama-led government of plunging the country into a ditch despite having a lot of revenue under their disposal.

Akufo-Addo has however promised to turn the fortunes of the country around for the better if given the chance on December 7, 2016.

He has thus promised to build factories in all districts of the country, and also give each of the 275 constituencies $1 million dollars, to boost development in the country.

The NPP presidential candidate has also promised to revive what he described as the collapsing national health insurance scheme and invest more in the agric sector.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Nana Addo’s promises are fake – Fiifi Kwetey appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the one who made the allegation, Mustapha Hamid, spokesperson of the NPP’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, lacks credibility and should be ignored.

[contextly_sidebar id=”9UEWoNbeckOd1Pqk5DmNglwaa4J3ZwWo”]The opposition at a press conference addressed by Mustapha Hamid, alleged that the President and his brother, Ibrahim Mahama tried to bribe Bugri Naabu with a brand new V6 Mitsubishi, a brand New V8 Land Cruiser and GHc 3.3 million for him to resign from his party and further paint Nana Akufo-Addo as a dictator and “an anti-northerner.”

But Fiifi Kwetey while speaking at the Setting the Records Straight forum held on Wednesday, accused Mustapha Hamid of personally asking the NDC to bribe him in 2002/2003 since he was ready to cross carpet to the NDC.

Fiifi Kwetey, who is also the Minister of Transport, narrated that Mustapha Hamid had wanted Dr. Obed Asamoah, former NDC financier, to give him huge sums of money so he could denounce NPP; but such did not happen.

Fiifi Kwetey said Hamid is however unreliable, hence the allegations he leveled against the President should be disregarded.

“I say this on authority and ready to swear on anything that is sacred. I can even swear on the Nogokpo shrine that Mustapha Hamid approached myself and Bismark Agbemenuble [in 2002/2003]…and told us that we should arrange for him to meet Dr. Obed Asamoah, who was at the time known as a heavy financier of the NDC. He asked us to take him to Dr. Obed Asamoah and he was ready to collect money and denounce the NPP and switch to the NDC. But it never happened, it never happened because we don’t believe in characters such as that, who don’t have any value and who do not have any proper loyalty to party,” he said.

The Ketu South legislator at the forum, also said he was willing to swear by any deity to defend his claim.

“If he [Mustapha Hamid] truly believes he can choose a place, either Antoanyama or Nogokpo shrine and we will go, and I tell you he will dare not stand in those places to lie. If you deal with a character like that talking about stuff of this nature, it is to be dismissed and treated with the contempt that it deserves.”

Bribery claim against Mahama ‘cock and bull story’ 

Kofi Adams, who is the National Coordinator of President Mahama’s campaign team on Eyewitness News described the NPP’s allegation as “cock and bull story.”

“Who in his mind collects money he says it’s bribe; and goes and deposit in his account. He didn’t find any police station to take that money that he considers as a bribe. He didn’t find any person to witness that he took the money and was going round and looking for a Prudential bank that works on Saturday to go and deposit the money. This cock and bull stories should be told to only NPP members and not Ghanaians in generality.,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Ignore ‘bribe taker’ Mustapha Hamid – Fiifi Kwetey appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“They [NPP] do the talking, we [NDC] do the doing. They are empty barrels that make a lot of noise, we are full barrels we do not make a lot of noise. That is the difference between them and us…”Fifi Kwetey said this at the launch of the party’s manifesto at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region.

He further indicated that, the NPP’s assertion that the governing NDC has had the highest revenue in the history of the country, and so it behooves them to carry out more developmental projects is a lie.

“Our friends in the NPP recently said that, NDC government has done a lot from 2013 to now, and the only reason why we have done a lot is because we have had more money than any other government. I want to tell you today that it is a lie.”

“Between 1993 to the year 2000, when NDC was in power for the first time, the total revenue that we had was 2 billion cedis and the total debt that we had at the time was 13 billion. When NPP came to power between 2001 and 2008, their total revenue went to 22 billion and the total debt went to 57 billion. Even though they had so much revenue than us between 1993 and 2000, they had almost five times the debt that NDC had between 1993 and 2000, NDC was able to build 3 regional hospitals…

“NDC was able to build three universities, NPP got zero, NDC between 1993 and 2000 built 7 polytechnics, NPP built zero. NDC built houses,…but how many houses did the NDC build? Zero.Not even one chamber and hall, not even one single room was completed so when they tell you we had more money than they had  that’s a lie. We had less money than they had; but because we were committed to transforming the lives of our people, we  performed better than them. So today when you hear us talking about the mighty works that JM is going to do between 2017 and 2020, believe it because we come from a tradition that does not talk…”

He believes the NDC has set a clean track record by delivering on its promises and therefore deserves another term in government.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Empty barrels make the most noise – Fifi Kwetey mocks NPP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.