CONSIDER ECONOMIC PROBLEMS BEFORE VOTING ...John Mahama urges (PAGE 14)

THE running mate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Dramani Mahama, has asked Ghanaians to consider the economic difficulties they are currently going through before casting their votes in December.
According to him, the economic difficulties called for a change of government.
He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration which took over the government from the NDC about eight years ago, had almost collapsed the economy as a result of which majority of Ghanaians were now suffering.
He therefore asked the people to support the NDC to win the December elections to revamp the economy to make life worth living for them.
Mr Mahama made the call when he addressed a rally at the main lorry park in Koforidua. The rally was attended by a large crowd of people.
Mr Mahama who was on a campaign tour of the region, was in the regional capital where he introduced Mr Ransford Owusu Boakye, the party’s parliamentary aspirant for the New Juaben South Constituency, to the people. He also solicited support for the party’s flag bearer, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
Recounting the economic difficulties of the people, Mr Mahama said the NDC did a lot in the economic transformation of the country before handing over to the NPP and added that the clock of progress had been turned back through massive corruption.
“The country has a lot of resources and if the NPP had been able to live up to its slogan of ‘zero tolerance for corruption’, the country would not have been in this unfortunate situation”, Mr Mahama pointed out.
“The NDC did far better than the NPP but we are not blowing our horns, but if the NPP is saying it has performed better than us, then it is advisable to compare and contrast the performances of the two parties”, he stated.
On public transport, Mr Mahama said an NDC administration would come out with a policy in which private transport operators and the Metro Mass Transport would operate in such a way that it would not have any negative impacts.
As regards education, he stated that since the GH¢3 Capitation Grant instituted by the NPP had accounted for the mass failure at the BECE because it could not provide quality education, the NDC would come out with a realistic amount that would have a positive impact on the performance of the pupils.
Teachers, he also indicated, would be given the necessary incentives that would make them give their best.
Other executive of the NDC, including Messrs Julius Debra and Tawia Boateng, the Eastern Regional Chairman and Secretary respectively, as well as the MP for Tamale South, Mr Haruna Idrissu, took turns to address the gathering.