Village Life Verses City Life

FULL SPEECH + AUDIO: Prez Mahama's Presentation At IEA Encounter | | Date: 18-Oct-2012 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chairperson, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and friends from the media, fellow Ghanaians, Good Evening. It is a pleasure and an honour for me to be here with you this evening. I would like, first, to thank the Institute of Economic Affairs for organizing these encounters. May I acknowledge the respect that the IEA exhibited after the passing of Professor John Evans Atta Millis, our late President by suspending your original schedule. This is a time of great possibility in our country. In fact, the possibilities that lie before us for true and sustained progress are limitless. As the clock draws nearer to our national election, it is crucial for us to depart from the destructive, time-wasting exercise of unfounded personal attacks, petty name-calling, and character assassinations and rather, move our energies toward the debate of real issues, concrete ways in which we can transform these numerous possibilities that exist into viable programmes that can, and will, create A Better Ghana. By establishing these encounters, the IEA is doing just that. It is creating a forum within which we candidates can seriously discuss the issues facing our nation and present the solutions that fall not only within our vision but also within our capability. I welcome this opportunity.While part of the function of a government is absolutely to institute policy and to put forth programmes, what I have discovered is sorely missing in many talks and speeches during this election cycle is the basic link between the citizens of this country and the policies that are being promoted.

What is missing is the clear correlation between the good people of Ghana and the benefits of the programmes that are being promised. For more than 2 decades, I have been serving this great nation of ours in various public