Mr. Amissah-Arthur said the outspoken National Democratic Congress (NDC) founder must not be vilified for speaking his mind on issues of national interest.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SmuSjM1DN3rKJ8YjVdjkeHq1QwBXiRsd”]Mr. Rawlings has, in recent times, offered praise to President Nana Akufo-Addo, whilst remaining critical of the leadership of the party he founded.

This has led to public utterances against Mr. Rawlings from notable NDC members, with some even blaming him for the party’s 2016 election defeat to NPP and further calling for his expulsion from the party.

Since the NPP’s election victory, Mr. Rawlings has been seen to be offering public support to President Akufo-Addo on many fronts, including the latter’s commitment to fighting corruption leading to concerns from some NDC sympathisers that he is siding with the enemy.

But Mr. Amissah-Arthur, who was on the losing side of the 2016 election as a running mate, said suggestions that Mr. Rawlings is disloyal are farfetched.

“I don’t know what this thing about romancing is. When he attends the State of the Nation, people say that he is romancing the NPP. I say that he is a former President of the Republic. We paid him as President for eight years. It means that we have taken his life as ours and for the next 20, 30 years, as long as he lives, he is our property and he should participate in all those things.”

“So when he attends national events, I don’t think he is attending it because he is romancing one side or supporting the other side,” Mr. Amissah-Arthur said.

Rawlings says it as it is

The former Vice President also reminded that Mr. Rawlings has never shied away from attacking his own party, even when he occupied the top office.

“Even when he was President, he would take his own government appointees on at rallies… he is a non-conformist. He believes in such things that he will talk his mind. Whether you like it or not, that is how he thinks.

Mr. Amissah-Arthur said despite the constant opposition he faces, there are still people within the NDC who appreciated Mr. Rawlings’ approach.

“I think that we in the NDC, we appreciate it so much because we know where [Rawlings] stands so we don’t think that he is being disloyal to the NDC. We also see him as a beacon who says it as it is.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, the policy was not well thought through, and was rushed by the NPP government for political expediency.

“The way it’s being done, it’s a little haphazard in my view, and it doesn’t help because every parents want to provide the best education for their wards. So they should be less haphazard in a way,” he said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ZnXGbLndxMdlzxhjCnLaSPivhw411FcP”]The former Vice president made the remark last Monday in an interview with the media at Ho in the Volta Region, after he together with his wife, Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur, made some donations to the Children on admission at the Ho Regional and Municipal hospitals.

The free SHS programme, which was implemented by the NPP some few months ago, has since its inception recorded some setbacks in terms of infrastructure, a problem government has assured to address.

Government recently announced the setting up of a fund to receive voluntary contributions from individuals to support the implementation of the programme, and the education sector as a whole.

It has also allocated an amount of money to solve the infrastructure challenges.

But Mr. Amissah-Arthur, speaking for the first time after the National Democratic Congress party was defeated a year ago, said most of the policies implemented by the NPP government are without “full conceptualization.”

“I think that programmes have been adopted and implemented without a full conceptualization of the appreciation of the cost. So it’s like we are moving and then resolving as we go along. But a lot of these programmes should have been costed, agreed and implemented from day one rather than let’s start and model our way through.”

“I think there is a lot of modeling our way through the implementations, especially the free SHS programme. There should have been more consultation with people who have a more definition of exactly what it is that we want to do, and some clarity in the things that we want to achieve,” he added.

Ghanaians disappointed in Akufo-Addo

On the economy, he said Ghanaians are disappointed at the government over its handling of the country.

“…I think that quite a number of people are disappointed as to where this country is being taken, and we are looking for an alternative that will provide better results,” he added.

The former Vice President said, the NDC party one year after its defeat, is currently analyzing why it lost and strategizing on the way forward.

He said they are “analyzing what we could have done better looking at the national situation and deciding how we can move this nation forward. So that is what we are spending our time doing. Critically looking at policies, programmes that will move this country from where it is. I think that quite a number of people are disappointed as to where this country is being taken, and we are looking for an alternative that will provide better results. So that is what we are spending our time doing,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He said there was no truth in the allegation being made by their opponent, and thus asked the public, especially cocoa farmers, to disregard it.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0HisVoHu0HFVYcP6TDXd4bJskQ4RlLnQ”]Vice President Amissah-Arthur denied the claim when addressed the chiefs and people of the cocoa growing areas of Asunafo North in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Some of the places he visited included Awewoho-Manhyia, Pomaakrom, Manukrom, Asamura, Akrodie, Fawohoyedin and Ayomso, all in the Asutifi North Constituency.

The Vice President is on a three-day campaign tour of the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur is being accompanied on the campaign tour by Eric Opoku, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Barbara Serwah Asamoah, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, National Vice Chairman of the NDC, Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan, a former National Organiser of the NDC, among others.

The major concerns of the people in the cocoa growing areas are the bad roads and the lack of mobile telephone network.

They therefore appealed to the Vice President to expedite action on them, so that they could communicate with their people and also ensure easy transportation of their goods, services and commuters.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur assured the people that, the NDC Government would continue to pay cocoa farmers well and also utilise the amount set aside for cocoa roads to improve the road networks in the six cocoa producing regions of the country.

He said already some officials from the Ghana Infrastructure Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), had visited some of the communities and they would soon be back to address some of their challenges.

He said the cocoa sector continued to be critical to Ghana’s economic and social development.

It was for this reason, he said, that the Government paid a lot of attention to the sector, with a special focus on the farmers.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the Government had set aside 150 million dollars annually of proceeds from cocoa and earmarked it for the cocoa roads.

He explained that, the programme had been divided into phases and appealed to the communities that had not been covered to be patient as it would get to their turn.

He also urged supporters of the NDC to restrain themselves from all forms of provocation and vote massively for President Mahama on December 7.

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Source: GNA

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He said, the NPP has no message for Ghanaians, hence the unwarranted attack on President John Dramani Mahama and the entire members of his administration.

[contextly_sidebar id=”lS45Z0eDf1IdjVv6LQHDJ6YZ7De3tqrf”]The Vice President said this when he addressed a durbar of Chiefs at the celebration of Adimkese festival at Wassa Akropong in the Western region.

He said the the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government cannot be described as incompetent, after the massive infrastructural development it has executed across the country.

Mr Amissah-Arthur mentioned the road construction projects being undertaken by government across the country, expanding electricity to rural areas, construction of hospitals, and other health post, and building new schools, as some of the projects by government to develop the country.

“Clearly, a government that is doing all these projects for Ghanaians, like the Mahama administration cannot be described as incompetent and it is only those political parties with no message that will say so,” he said.

He disclosed that, as a social Democratic Party, the NDC would continue to introduce policies and programmes that would gear towards empowering the rural folks and make their lives better.

He said, government would continue to provide electricity to the rural areas, build more schools and health centres, as well as creating jobs, as a way of improving their standard of living.

Mr Amissah-Arthur also urged the electorates to vote for President Mahama in the upcoming December 7 elections to enable him continue the developmental agenda for the country.

The Omanhene of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area,  Tetrete Okuamoah Sakyim II, commended government for the various developmental projects in the area.

He appealed to the government to provide the community with a training college if it win the elections.

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By: Richard Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Veep rebukes NPP over ‘incompetence’ claim appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said the Producer Price of Cocoa announced by government was the highest in recent times.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SV1QdJhtTTnaKxA13reaVoGatJeK7r8C”]Vice President Amissah-Arthur gave the assurance when he interacted with cocoa farmers at Bimpong-Egya in Twifo Atti-Morkwa constituency of the Central Region.

The programme forms part of the Vice President’s four-day campaign tour of the Region to rally for votes for the NDC to retain power in the December 7 elections.

He was accompanied by Mr Kweku Richet Hagan, Regional Minister, Mr Bernard Allotey Jacobs, Regional Chairman of the NDC as well as other stalwarts of the Party.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also explained that government had started work on the roads leading to cocoa producing areas to open up the country for development.

He said government intended to increase cocoa production from 750,000 tons to one million tons this cocoa season.

He said the government was supplying cocoa farmers with new seedlings for them to replace old cocoa trees as well as agro-chemical and fertilizers to increase the yield of the farmers.

He said the NDC would not take for granted the continuous support of the people in the area for the Party.

Vice President Amissah-Athur also introduced he NDC’s parliamentary candidate for Twifo Atta-Morkwa, Mr Samuel Ato Amoah to the people.

Vice President Amissah-Athur also addressed similar rally at Atti-Morkwa, Nyinasi all in the Twifo Att-Morkwa constituency as well as Wawase and Nkrofom in the Herman Lower Denyira constituency.

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Source: GNA

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Addressing students at the Cape Coast Polytechnic, the Vice President indicated that eight out of the NPP’s proposals on the economy in the NPP’s manifesto are on revenue reduction and would cost the nation billions.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0wZdWDdAVIV8xsrPFO3l2vLsf0f5BmxO”]“In the manifesto that they have published, they have put in about 63 proposals. Eight of them are revenue proposal in which they will reduce revenue,” he said.

“When I calculate the cost and the revenue loss that their manifesto proposes, I get something like GHc 6.2 billion if they were running the government this year [2016] from the reduction in taxes and so on.”

The Veep also noted that “in addition, they have also introduced GHc 21 billion of new expenditure.”

“With the loss of revenue and the increase in expenditure, we are talking about an additional GHc 27 billion,” he added.

NPP’s shift from taxation to production

The NPP’s economic strategy is anchored on a shift from taxation to production according to its running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

At the NPP’s 2016 manifesto launch, Dr. Bawumia promised that an NPP government would lessen and abolish the tax burden on a number of sectors ranging from the ECOWAS common external tariff to levies on head porters, otherwise known as ‘Kayayei’.

Dr. Bawumia blamed the mismanagement of the economy under this John Mahama led National Democratic Congress government for the increase in taxes on virtually everything taxable.

“Taxes were imposed on even on condoms and cutlasses,” The NPP running mate noted.

Mentioning some of the taxes the party intends to reduce or scrap, he said corporate tax would be reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent. He also said an NPP government would remove import duties on raw materials and machinery from production within the contest of the ECOWAS common external tariff, along with a scrapping of the special import levy.

To accompany the various tax scraps and reductions, Dr. Bawumia assured that the NPP would “ introduce tax incentives for businesses that hire fresh graduates from schools and we are going to reduce the VAT for micro and small enterprises from the 17.5 percent  to the 3 percent flat rate.”

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Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post NPP’s economic proposals could cost GHc27bn annually – Veep appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said the government would respect the rules of engagement without interfering in the work of state institutions that have been assigned responsibilities to ensure free and fair elections.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JtD3Zv0xWVxr5dvUj79eQkApSUfaXsmL”]Vice President Amissah-Arthur gave the assurance at the opening of the Socialist International Africa Committee meeting in Accra.

The two-day meeting which is on the theme: “Advancing our Social Democratic vision in Africa,” is being attended by participants from various African political parties affiliated to the Socialist International.

The Socialist International is the worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties.

Currently 24 African political parties are full members of the organisation, with 11 in the consultative stage and eight in the observer status.

Besides, 16 of the member parties of the Social International are in national governments in Africa.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also stated that though the National Democratic Congress(NDC) is sure of success in this year’s elections but the responsibility is to use the victory to pursue fairer world by eliminating poverty and creating opportunities for all to achieve their potential.

He said as social democrats the government cannot relent on its effort to provide greater access to social services and infrastructure to the most vulnerable in the societies.

He said the NDC is also proud of its social democratic credentials and the government’s priority is to invest in people especially in the areas of education and health.

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Source: GNA

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Speaking at the launch of the National Democratic Congress’ 2016 manifesto at Sunyani, Mr. Amissah-Arthur said the NDC had the “knowledge to respond in equal measure” all the lies by the major opposition party, the New Patriotic Party.

“Part of my problem is that, they [NPP] want to bamboozle us to make us believe what they are saying is true. What they are saying is false”, Mr. Amissah-Arthur said.

According to the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia, also a former deputy governor of the Bank, did not make a distinction between real and nominal income hence his false claims.

“Through this spurious analysis, he [Bawumia] cannot tell us that in the 8 years of Kufour’s rule, there was a 459% increase in GDP… If even the economy grew by 8 per cent a year, you only double that GDP in 9 years… It is not possible.”

Kwesi Amissah Arthur told supporters he will respond to each of Bawumia’s assertions on his subsequent campaign tours, since he has been advised by friends to respond to Dr. Bawumia on a political platform, and not in a professional manner, since he [Bawumia], merely engaged in politics.

“I have decided that everywhere we go, I will take one of his lies and explain to you why they are lies,” the NDC running mate said.

He concluded that, he only received a copy of the document presented by Dr. Bawumia three days ago, but has discovered several “lies” in it which he [Amissah-Arthur] can “destroy”.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories.  

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘I’ll destroy Bawumia’s lies one by one’ – Amissah Arthur appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The 15 member team includes the campaign coordinator and MP for Garu, Dominic Azimbe, Upper East Regional minister, Albert Abongo, Baba Kumasi, Benard Bugzor, Moses Asaga.

Spokesperson of the team Mr. Donatus Akamugre, Dr. Stan Kadingdi, Opam Brown, Hajia Zinabu Ayariga and Fastina Abagre.

The rest are; Bawa Ladi, Hajia Christina Alhassan, Alhaji Bomba, Haruna Issaka and Robert Yel-Oni.

Mr. Arthur admonished the team to work with the various constituency and polling station executives to ensure high turnout for president Mahama and all the fifteen parliamentary candidates in the region for victory come December 7.

He tasked the team to resolve all internal challenges that resulted from  the parliamentary primaries for victory for the NDC.

On his part, the campaign coordinator Mr. Dominic Azimbe pledge a 80 percent of total votes for president Mahama and hopefully win all the fifteen parliamentary seats.

He said the region has benefited immensely between 2009 and 2015 adding that, the creation of four new districts; Builsa South, Pusiga, Binduri, Nabdam  and the steadily ongoing rural electrification project when completed will connect about  982 communities to the national grid to boast economic activities in the region.

Mr. Azimbe added that, the region is benefiting from ten community day senior high schools and when completed to improve access to secondary education.

He said irrigation schemes like the Tono and Vea dams are receiving massive rehabilitation works  and when the Temde irrigation project is completed will provide both direct and indirect jobs for the youth.

“The NDC will campaign on our track records, Works on  the Bolga-Bawku , Sandema-Wiasi, Chuchuliga-Tumu and other roads are progressing steadily and when completed will make the roads more motorable. The upgrading of the Bolgatanga regional hospital and the Garu district hospital will bring relief to the people of the region” Azimbe stated.

Mr. Azimbe appealed to the parliamentary candidates for their cooperation and impressed on them  to pay critical attention at the polling stations since election are won at the polling stations.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for more election related stories

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By: Frederick Awuni/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Veep inaugurates Upper East NDC campaign team appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to them, they still cannot understand why government has scrapped the allowance that helps them pay for school fees and other learning materials.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4CdPMocBjoWkATVitYmO7C0PLA8nwLu0″]The trainee nurses disclosed this at the Bolgatanga Nursing Training College when the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah Arthur, visited the school during a two-day campaign tour.

Speaking at the occasion, President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) of the Bolgatanga Nursing Training College, Achire Ibrahim, said scrapping of the allowance has forced some students to defer their courses.

Some students who spoke to Citi News said, government has failed to deliver its promise to restore a part of the allowance, saying they will vote against the NDC if they don’t pay their allowance before the December polls.

One student stated that “Our predecessors enjoyed the allowance so why has the NDC scrapped it? We need our allowance now or we will vote the NDC out in 2016 because the NPP has promised to restore it”.

“We are tired of the many promises about this allowance, all we want is when is the government paying our allowance and how much?, Because it will influence my vote in the election” Another student stated.

But Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur said government might invite leadership of the various nursing training colleges to discuss their concerns.

“It is a give and take affair, You may want an allowance and may also have a community that needs  electricity. But if the money for electricity is used to pay your allowance, when you go home your parents and siblings cannot be connected to the national grid, so we will discuss the issue and see how government can meet you half way” Mr. Arthur noted.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on social media for more election related stories

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By: Frederick Awuni/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Status of allowances will influence our vote – Trainee nurses appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.