New Patriotic Party Director of Policy Emmanuel Boakye Agyarko has criticized the government’s most touted achievement in infrastructure concluding that it has accomplished so little with so much financial resources.

Given the rate at which the infrastructure is being developed, “Ghana will develop three times faster if we get rid of this government and Mahama” Boakye Agarko said at a press conference, Monday evening.

The press conference advertised as an opportunity to outline a litany of broken promises, follows the launch of the 2016 manifesto of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Brong Ahafo regional capital Sunyani last Saturday.

The party says its 2016 manifesto builds on the 2012 version and introduces a slew of fresh promises and pledges to be kept if President John Mahama is re-elected in 2016.

President John Mahama goes into the December 7 general elections with a special emphasis on his government’s massive infrastructure development.

From affordable housing projects to huge hospitals like the Ridge Hospital, rebranded the Greater Accra hospital, the government is confident that it has been able to deliver at least 80% of its 2012 manifesto promises.

Photo: Public housing project at Borteyman in Accra ,95% complete

Photo: The Greater Accra hospital under construction

But the NPP has described government's achievement in social infrastructure and promise of more development as another joke.

At an event where the 2016 flagbearer was expected to address, Boakye Agyarko was the surprise speaker who took on the government as its four-year mandate comes to a close.

Boakye Agyarko argued that government’s touting of massive infrastructure is nothing more than a massive over-pricing of construction works.

Picking up on examples, he compared the cost of six-classroom blocks constructed by the government and another by the MTN Foundation.

The former NPP Campaign manager pointed out that while the MTN Foundation constructed the classroom block plus store and office for GHC170,000 , the government, around the same time built a six-classroom block alone at GHC510,000.

The difference, he calculated is a 200% increase in the cost of the school building. The investment banker suggested if MTN were a political party, it would be better to vote for it than to retain the Mahama-led administration.

He said this scenario demonstrates that the private sector can do a better job than government. In a further analysis, Boakye Agarko argued that using MTN’s figures, “every school Mahama government built, three schools could have been built with the same amount”.

Boakye Ayarko said with a judicious use of resources, government could have built more schools, employed more teachers and educate more children than it is proud to have done so far.

“Mahama at the helm, slows development” he jabbed.

In another example of over-pricing, the former NPP presidential aspirant Boakye Agarko said the NDC government is building District hospitals for $40million when the NPP did same for $13million.

In a relentless jabbing he said Mahama's investments in infrastructure has “defied any costing principles and will soon make its way into Guinness Book of Records”.

Waxing biblical, Ayarko quoted the verse ‘for lack of vision the people perish' is true of the Mahama government.

“The government can’t think far” he berated using a slang phrase coined by a Ghanaian comedian ‘Lilwin’.

In another Biblical example, Boakye Agarko said Mahama is like the man described in Matthew 25:14-30 as a man who wasted his talent while others deployed it wisely.

He told President Mahama that Ghanaians “trusted you more than you deserved” and asked the electorate to endorse as the next president Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo, projected as the restorer of Ghanaian hope.

-myjoyonline.com