Mahama sets tone for his re-election bid
President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday set the tone for his re-election bid with a vigorous defence of the achievements of his leadership.
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Delivering his State of the Nation Address to Parliament – the last in his first term – the President, who spoke for about four hours, said, “The seed we sowed three years ago has taken roots.”
“Some have even become trees,” he added, to rapturous applause from the Majority side in the House.
From one sector to another, he enumerated the successes chalked up by his administration, most often backing them with evidence, and gave every indication that his address was not meant to be a goodbye speech.
The speech was replete with the lines: “When I leave office in 2020” and “In my second term in office” to signal his confidence of retaining power in the November presidential election.
The mention of those lines received mixed reactions from both sides of the House — while the Majority welcomed them by waving white handkerchiefs and shouting “Listen, listen”, the Minority, who were not ready to take any of that, responded: “Bye-bye, bye-bye”.
In a clear departure from previous addresses, the President this time provided pictorial evidence of various completed and ongoing projects, while the names of some people in the public gallery who he said had benefitted from various interventions were mentioned for them to stand up to back his claims.
President Mahama began his address with a tribute to the slain Abuakwa North Member of Parliament, Mr J.B. Danquah-Adu, and moved to other business before coming back to security for MPs.
He indicated that the security of MPs was of prime concern to the government and mentioned various interventions including increased police patrols to protect the legislators.
Going into full business, the President explained why the government was committed to giving full meaning to its “putting the people first “ slogan.
“There is a direct line between policy and people,” he told the lawmakers.
He said the transformation agenda of the government was on course and that it was bringing real change to the country and its people.
The mention of the word “change” brought the minority members on their feet as they shouted “change is coming” to indicate that the NPP was going to win the November elections.
But, the President shot back saying, “I don’t think you heard what I said.”
He explained that the change that was coming was through the policies and programmes initiated by his administration and not what the minority thought.
Touching on the general election, the President expressed confidence in the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct free and fair polls and called on the political parties to support the commission in that respect.
He stated that the EC had over the years gained worldwide recognition for its good work and there was no doubt that it would live up to the occasion again.
He also urged all players to play the game clean, saying “let the election be clean and devoid of insults.”
While recognising the great role the media play in election periods, he charged the media to continue to be a good conduit for communicating messages.
President Mahama took time to explain the progress made in the health sector and said this had contributed to the increase in life expectancy of Ghanaians.
“At independence, our life expectancy was a little over 40 years but today life expectancy has increased by more than 14 years.”
Not only did he say Ghanaians were living longer, but indicated that “more infants are living to see those years, too”.
“According to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, there has been a drastic decrease in the rates of infant mortality and under-five mortality. Over the last decade, under-five mortality decreased from 111 to 60 per 1000 live births. Infant mortality dropped by almost 30 per cent from 64 to 41 per 1000 live births over the same period. The mothers of these children are also surviving during pregnancies and after childbirths because antenatal and post- natal care have improved,” he said
Even as the government continued to improve health inftastructure, the President said emphasis would also be placed on preventive health care treatment of chronic and non-communicable diseases.
“We are poised to invest heavily in education and preventive health care for the treatment of chronic and non-communicable diseases due to lifestyle choices. Diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.
“The investment in preventive health is even more prudent as our nutritional habits continue to change. The double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases raises even more fundamental questions about sustainable healthcare financing,” he added.
