Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says although they are poised to fulfil all their promises, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not pledge to fulfill them within 100 days in government.
Speaking at a Town Hall on the 100 days of the Akufo-Addo tenure as president, a programme organised by Joy News, the Vice President said the NPP government have been able to record 103 remarkable achievements since taking over from the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
“Government has upped the country’s foreign reserve from less than $6 billion to $8 billion. This is the achievement and with that you have a lot more confidence in the economy and you see stability return to the currency” he said.
As a result, he said, many thought the government cannot fulfill the promises made by the president during the electioneering, but “thankfully by the grace of God we have been able to accomplish what many people thought was impossible”.
He said the government’s maiden budget saw Ghana moving away from an economy whose primary focus was imposition of taxes to an economy whose focus is on production.
“So we wanted to give incentives to the private sector, bringing down the tax rates in the country and encourage production,” said Dr. Bawumia to the applause of the audience.
He continued that the government among other things reduced the National Electrification Scheme levy from 5 percent to 3 percent; reduced the public lightening levy from 5percent to 2percent, reduced the special petroleum tax rate from 17.5percent to 15percent.
Today marks exactly 100 days since the NPP, led by its leader and 2016 flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took over the reigns of governance from the National Democratic Congress.
It was a change many had clamored for and eagerly anticipated considering the ‘historic’ margin of victory the NPP got in last year’s polls.
That margin, according to many, was a reflection of the goodwill the Akufo-Addo government was to enjoy in the coming days, but the question on the lips of many remains ‘how long will the anchor hold’ particularly after a series of unexpected events which many believe have overshadowed the positives of the Akufo-Addo administration in the last 100 days.
Listen to Bawumia
