Harry Maguire, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Isaac Adongo

England defender Harry Maguire has been mocked by a Ghanaian MP who used a football analogy to describe the nation’s vice president.

Hon. Issac Adongo labelled the country’s Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as an “Economic Maguire”, likening his performance in the role to Maguire’s decline since joining Manchester United.

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is a Ghanaian economist and former central banker who serves as the 5th Vice President of Ghana in the 4th Ghanaian Republic.

“…tackling Manchester players and giving assists to opponents. Mr Speaker, when the opponent failed to score, Maguire will score for them,” Mr Adongo said, as laughter erupted in the chamber.

“Mr Speaker, you remember in this country we also have an economic Maguire.”

Mr Isaac Adongo is a Ghanaian politician and member of the 8th Ghanian Parliament representing the Bolgatanga Central Constituency in the Upper East Region on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. He was first elected in 2016 and he was re-elected in 2020.

Harry Maguire gets roasted in Ghanaian parliament as Economic Maguire. Credit to JoyNews. #HarryMaguire #Dr #EconomicMaguire #Ghana pic.twitter.com/Sv2M1CWHPQ

— Debrich Group Ghana, Nigeria & Europe (@debrichgroup) December 3, 2022

I’II implement child benefit policy if elected – Akpaloo

The Founder and 2020 Presidential Candidate of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Kofi Akpaloo, has indicated that a new government under his leadership will implement a child benefit policy to support children.

According to him, as part of the policy, every child would receive a monthly allowance of GH¢300, which would be paid either to their parents or guardians to support their upkeep.

“The allowance will be paid based upon the number of children a parent is having and if a parent is having, for instance, four children, each child will receive GH¢300 every month in line with the policy,” he said.

Conference

Mr Akpaloo said this in an interview with a section of the media during the party’s regional conference in Bolgatanga.

Before the conference, Mr Akpaloo, who was accompanied by some leaders of the party, toured some of the constituencies to interact with party members and energised the party’s base as part of preparations for the 2024 general election.

As part of the conference, new constituency executives for the 15 constituencies in the region and new regional executives were sworn into office.

Only 7.2 million children

Asked how a government he leads would find the money to implement the ambitious child benefit policy, he said, “The government will stimulate the economy to generate demand activities out of which taxes will be generated to implement the policy.”

He stated that paying monthly allowance to about 7.2 million children in the country was not a difficult thing to do, stressing “the total number of children is not overwhelming and that the LPG-led government will find the money to support their proper care”.

He stated that the policy was not difficult to implement and that the required policy framework will be put in place to ensure its smooth implementation and added “just as children in other advanced countries are paid monthly, we will learn from that system and do the same thing here”.

New factories

He said a new LPG government would put in place a comprehensive plan towards revamping the defunct Pwalugu Tomato Factory and meat factory in the region to provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs to the youth.

Additionally, he disclosed that five new factories would be built in the region to improve its local economy for the benefit of the people, saying “at least $100 million will be needed to build each factory and that the government will find the money to build the factories”.

He explained that the establishment of the factories in the region would be a game changer, as it would provide decent jobs to the people, thereby preventing the youth in particular from migrating to the south in search of non-existent white-collar jobs.

Change voting pattern

He appealed to Ghanaians to change their voting pattern of alternating between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since both political parties had taken them for granted for a long time.

He indicated that the NPP and the NDC continue to deceive citizens when they win power and that it was time for Ghanaians to change their voting pattern to allow the LPG to steer the affairs of the country.

An aspiring General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, has called on the party’s delegates to give him the mandate to enable him restore hope in the party in order to win the 2024 general elections.

According to him, the younger generation was beginning to believe that both the NDC and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) were full of people who only sought their selfish interests.

“The fact that the NPP over the past six years has not only collapsed the economy, but has also decayed the very morals of leadership does not mean the NDC is the same”, he explained.

Mr Kwetey, a former Minister of State said that at a press conference held at the NDC national headquarters in Accra yesterday after successfully being vetted to contest for the position of General Secretary.

Mr Kwetey, who also went through the balloting process, would be number two on the ballot paper for the General Secretary position on the voting day at the party’s national elections on December 17, 2022 at the Trade Fair Site in Accra.

The former Member of Parliament for Ketu South stated that the only means to win power and restore the economy of the country to its former glory was to first restore hope in the people through the party.

“We want to restore the faith of our supporters, party workers at all levels and give inspiration to the millions of people who support us from every nook and cranny of the country”, he said.

Track record

Mr Kwetey said unlike the NPP, the NDC had a proven track record of leading the country out of economic turbulence on several occasions.

“In 1982, when this country was on the brink of collapse, our predecessor that was our PNDC, brought us from our point of disaster and set us on a path of stability that brought the stable democracy we have today.

“We did it again when we came to power in both 1993 and again when we came to power in 2009,” he explained.

The youth

Mr Kwetey also pledged, if given the mandate, to establish a strong youth wing to bring out the creativity of the younger generation.

That, he said, was because during his tenure as communications director, some of the best ideas and interventions he put in place that made him successful in his role came from people younger than him.

He, therefore, pledged to institute measures that would celebrate the youth in a manner that their creativity would become a competition for the NPP.