2016 race will be tough – Veep predicts

Vice president Kwesi Amissah-Arthur is predicting a tough election for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2016.

He said although the party has done a lot of work more needs to be done if it intends to maintain power.

Speaking in the Central Region at a meeting of an NDC students’ wing, the Vice President said “we need to continue to work because next year is going to be tough.

“Anybody who tells you it is going to be an easy walk over doesn’t know what they are talking about. We need to project the work we have done,” he added.

According to Mr Amissah-Arthur, government has not relented in efforts to deliver its promises to the citizenry.

He said although the country’s major export commodities, gold, cocoa and oil prices have dropped in the international market, government is still ensuring that the economy remains stable.

He therefore charged party supporters to spread the good works of the NDC government as the 2016 elections draw close.

“The last four years has been some of the most difficult periods in the economic history of this country. If you look at the trends of commodity prices like cocoa, prices plummeted but we have guaranteed the farmers that we will continue to give them a large share of the proceeds of the crop.

“So even as the prices are going down we are giving them a higher percentage so that the farmers will be guaranteed better standard of living,” he said.

Government, he indicated will continue despite these challenges to build roads, make transport and communication systems more efficient and provide infrastructure that the private sector can take advantage of to create jobs.

“We need to continue doing this because when you start the construction of a road from Accra, you can’t stop at Konongo otherwise you can’t achieve your aim. If you can’t get to Kumasi then what is the point in getting to Konongo,” he said.