Emelia Arthur, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Shama, has strongly criticized the government’s DRIP initiative, labeling it a “last-minute gimmick” intended to win votes ahead of the 2024 general elections.
According to her, the initiative is a hasty effort by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to gain political favor rather than a genuine move to address development needs.
Stressing that it does not make sense for government to wait till election year before procuring this initiative ” so what happened to the 7 years of the NPP rule? What where they doing on our road? ” she quizzed.
She asserted that similar programs had been undertaken in the past hence the DRIP is not novel.
Recalling her tenure as District Chief Executive (DCE) for Shama in 2004, Arthur explained that under her leadership, the district assembly procured a grader to improve local roads.
“During my time as DCE, we reshaped most of our roads in preparation for bitumen application,” she noted.
However, she accused the NPP of failing to maintain the grader after she left office, eventually resulting in the machine’s disappearance. “The machine is now missing, and no one seems to know its whereabouts,” Arthur lamented.
She pointed out that the DRIP initiative, which is being promoted as a new intervention, is in fact not novel and should not deceive the electorate.
Her remarks were made during a press conference following the successful submission of her nomination forms to the district Electoral Commission office. She was accompanied by party executives and supporters, all expressing confidence in her ability to win the seat for the NDC.
“I am confident that John Mahama will win the 2024 election, and I am resolute that the people of Shama will do the needful by voting for me to help relieve them from the current hardship,” Arthur stated. She further pledged to ensure that, if elected, the Shama constituency would receive its fair share of national resources.
“Now that we have filed the nomination forms, we are hitting the ground running to tell our story to the electorate,” she concluded.
Source: 3news.com
