I'VE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE MY CRITICS WRONG-PREZ

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says his election victory to become the Head of State of Ghana is a divine opportunity for him to prove to his critics that neither he nor the ruling New Patriotic  Party, NPP, has any negative hidden agenda against Muslims and the Zongo communities in the country.

 Using some crucial provisions in his first ever Economic policy statement or the 2017 Budget, the President assured the Muslim and Zongo communities of his determination to make the improvement in their socio-economic status one of the priorities of his government and has therefore appealed for the support of members and leaders of the two groups of Ghanaians for him to succeed in implementing the development plans he has set for the country in general. 

President Akufo-Addo made the appeal at Asawase in the Asokore Mampong Municipality at a meeting with Muslim and Zongo leaders. 

The interaction forms part of the President’s schedule during his three-day working visit to the Ashanti region.

President Akufo-Addo  said budgetary allocation has been made in the 2017 government policy to finance implementation of the free senior high education. 

This policy, he explained, is to extend basic education from pre-school to second cycle school.

President Akufo-Addo expressed appreciation to the leadership of the two communities for the pivotal contributions they made towards the resounding victory of the NPP in last December’s Parliamentary and Presidential polls.

 He reiterated his commitment to keeping to all the promises the party made in the run-up to the general elections especially those directly relating to the welfare of the Zongo community.

 Also present at the meeting was Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who used the platform to explain some of the government’s policy initiatives for the benefit of the Zongo and Muslim communities. 

He appealed for prayer intercession by the Muslim leadership for him and the government. 

Addressing the participants in the Hausa language, Alhaji Dr. Bawumia noted that for the first time in the history of Ghana’s political independence, it is the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo that has appointed Minister to be responsible for Zongo and Inner Cities Development, a step more than the campaign promise of establishing a Zongo’s Development Fund. 

The Vice President assured also that government will in the next four years, make annual budgetary allocation to sustain the Fund so as to realize the intended purpose.

 The President of the Council of Zongo Chiefs of Kumasi, Alhaji Musah Akanbonga, thanked President Akufo-Addo for choosing a member of the Zongo and Muslim community, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as his Vice President assuring that the community will not let the President down for the faith shown in them. 

Kanbonga said Nana Akufo-Addo’s posture before, during and after the election petition makes him a product of the ‘Academy of Democracy’.

 He expressed the hope that the NPP has shown enough commitment to be the first political party to produce the first Muslim President of Ghana in the 4^th Republic. 

Alhaji Kanbonga however appealed to the government to help construct a storm drainage system at Aboabo to resolve the perennial flooding problem during the rainy seasons.