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President Nana Akufo-Addo thinks it is unfair to say his government has been reckless in borrowing and spending.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address today, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, the President said his government has done nothing but spend money on “things that are urgent.”
“We have not been reckless in borrowing and in spending. It is worth noting that the debts we are servicing were not only contracted during the period of this administration.”
“We have spent money on building roads and bridges and schools, training our young people and equipping them to face a competitive world. Considering the amount of work that still needs to be done on the state of our roads, the bridges that have to be built, considering the number of classrooms that need to be built, the furniture and equipment needed at all stages of education, considering the number of children who should be in school and are not, considering the number of towns and villages that still do not have access to potable water.”
“I dare say no one can suggest we have over-borrowed or spent recklessly,” he added.
He admitted that he may have been in a hurry to get things done, but he is proud of the amount of work he has done, especially in the road sector.
“This includes massive developments in agriculture, education, health, irrigation, roads, rails, ports, airports, sea defence, digitisation, social protection programmes, industrialisation and tourism. We can be justifiably proud of the many things we have managed to do in the past six (6) years.”
“As I go around the country, I hear the pleas for roads, schools, hospitals, and, as the rainy season comes, I wish, as every other Ghanaian does, that we would have built more drains than we have. And I wish we had the resources to do more. Roads constitute the largest number of questions asked in this House by Members of Parliament; a large amount of the monies we borrow are for road construction. Shall we dare stop constructing roads?” he quizzed.
The President further stated that his government has built more roads than any government in the history of the 4th Republic.
“The details of all these roads are attached in the annex to this Message. I have done so because, last year, when I made a similar pronouncement, I was met with howls and gasps of incredulity from the Minority benches, and so I thought it appropriate, this time, to present it as an annex to the Statement, which will be part of Hansard.”
