An aspiring flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Kwadwo Poku has said former President Kufuor’s administration restored hope and stabilized the economy.
According to him, every leader that had come before President Kufuor did not help the country attain the level of development Ghanaians wanted.
Speaking on the Morning Starr with Francis Abban Tuesday February 28, 2023, Mr. Poku added that the late President Rawlings ensured total security in Ghana but he could not give the country the needed economic development.
“For this reason the democracy we had attained as a country was not evident in our lives. All these leaders had the opportunity to transform Ghana and make Ghana the Dubai of today. We missed that opportunity, they were in power for years and there was nothing new.
“So the NDC era between 1992 and 2001 there was really a continuation of the revolutionary PNDC that came. So, we have missed the opportunity in terms of him being a leader but he led in a way that he kept stability. Because we had a lot of coups and he was able with his military expertise to keep the security of this country in one place without the coups and everything.
He continued: “But what was missing was the developmental agenda, the economic development. Ghanaians were still in the shell, there was nothing great, people were still scared. Because we lived in a country where people were killed for having two toilets in their house, those things happened and that was the dark days of Ghana.”
However, he noted that Mr. Kufuor worked hard as a Stateman to uplift the development status of Ghana after 20 years of Jerry John Rawlings’ rule.
“Kufuor was a Stateman that stabilized the economy from HIPC. Though the NPP say that they are the property owning democracy and more of a capitalist. They introduced a lot more socialist interventions than the NDC had with the free NHIS, free maternity care and others. Those things were implemented to basically help the poor which was a good thing.
“So, we had a very stable economy, for once we saw a lot of shops coming around. People were now converting their frontals into shops. That’s when all these things started. So, people were beginning to do proper business again, people were beginning to show their wealth again without fear of being victimized. So, the Kufuor era of eight years showed that.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Bernice Mensah
