“Currently, in all the road construction that’s going on in this country, 95% of the contractors are Ghanaians and not foreigners. And so by doing this, we are expanding the road construction industry and making Ghanaians take advantage of the commanding heights of that particular industry.
“In 2012 when I became President, there were six foreign companies that had asphalt plants to be able to do asphalt roads. Today, 22 Ghanaian companies have their own asphalt plants and these are the gains that we are making in this country.
“I can understand when people say things are tight. During Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s time, they said things were right and that there was no milk and cornered beef among others; but at the time he was building Akosombo, he was building Valco, Tema Steelworks, the shoe factories, GIHOC Distilleries to create jobs; and so we drove him away in a coup.
“The same people complaining today that things are hard drove Nkrumah away. And Nkrumah said if I knew it was milk you wanted, I would have connected it through a tap for you to drink.
“In everybody’s life, you make sacrifices for things that are important. Times come when we have to squeeze ourselves a bit to do the precious things that we need in life. We can’t have money in our pockets when the roads are not good?”
“What is the use of money when you are sick and can’t get a hospital to be cured? And so sometimes when we are squeezing ourselves, it is to do the things that are essential; to put in place the social and economic infrastructure after which you can begin to put money in your pocket.
“And so it’s good politics to say things are hard; but the money that we are raising we are using for things that will benefit this country. We have spent these last four years investing in bringing the social infrastructure back to scratch and when I win the second term, then we will start putting money in your pocket. And I wish to pledge that we will continue working in the interest of the people of Ghana.”
- President Mahama was speaking at the inauguration of a Community Day Senior High School at Kwaobaah Nyanoa in the Eastern Region on Thursday
