The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described as ‘abysmal’ the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government's realisation of its 2016 manifesto promises.

At its weekly press briefing held in Accra Monday, the party said the NPP government delivered only 14 per cent of its manifesto promises contrary to the 78 per cent the party scored itself recently.

According to the NDC, a "fact-based, in-depth and empirical analysis" of the NPP manifesto showed that of the 631 promises identified in the 180-page programme the party presented to Ghanaians, only 86 had been delivered.

"We have combed through all the 180 pages of the NPP 2016 manifesto and also went beyond what we have been told in Parliament to arrive at this conclusion," the Member of Parliament for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who did the presentation, said.

Press conference

The press briefing to dissect the NPP manifesto promises was on the theme "The NPP 2016 manifesto in perspective: the claims, deception and reality."

The event was attended by some officials of the NDC such as the National Communication Officer, Mr Sammy Gyamfi; the Special Aide to the NDC flagbearer, Joyce Bawa Mogtari; members of the NDC Professionals Forum led by Ambassador Sam Pee Yalley; and members of the minority caucus in Parliament.

NPP 2016 manifesto

In its 2016 manifesto, the NPP made a number of promises, including transformation of agriculture; one district, One factory (1D1F); One village, One dam (1V1D), One constituency, $1million; free senior high school (FSHS) education; restoration of nursing and teacher trainees allowances.

After winning elections and forming a government, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government started implementing some of the promises.

For instance, the FSHS has been implemented with the first batch of beneficiary students set to write the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) this year.

The NPP-led government also started implementing the planting for food and jobs (PFJ), 1D1F,1V1D policies aside the restoration of nursing and teacher trainee allowances.

Based on what the NPP said was a successful delivery of its promises, the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, scored the party 78 per cent.

Poor score

However, the NDC said the government had "performed woefully on its manifesto promises" and so "the NDC score card is that the 78 per cent put out by the NPP government is wrong; the actual delivery is 14 per cent."

Mr Ablakwa explained that after a careful scrutiny of the NPP manifesto, it was observed that all the promises in Youth and Sports, Local Government and Rural Development and the Chieftaincy ministries had not been tackled at all.

In the estimation of the NDC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration had the highest mark of 34 per cent fulfilled promises with five out of the 13 promises tackled.

That was followed by the economy with 27 per cent; agriculture and energy, education sector and social development with 18 per cent each.

The NDC added that only 10 per cent of the 58 promises made in the Trade and Industry sector had been delivered while infrastructure and health saw the delivery of nine and seven per cent respectively.

Accountability

Mr Sammy Gyamfi described the performance of the NPP’s government in relation to its 2016 manifesto promises as abysmal and asked the electorate to hold the party to account.

"When those seeking public office make promises to the people and are given power, it becomes a social contract that must be delivered; so NPP must be held to task," he said.