Mixed Reaction On President Mahama's First Year

A survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency on the assessment of President Mahama's first year in power was greeted with mixed reaction by some students at the Accra Polytechnic. In an interview, some of the students described the President's first year in office as poor, while others said it was good. Some of the students said, instead of defining policies and programmes to improve the quality of lives of Ghanaians, the President sought to react to his critics. Others said, some of the projects undertaken by the Mahama administration, were being politicized, making it difficult to make any headway, as far as developmental projects are concerned. Some lauded the Mahama administration for upgrading Polytechnics to the status of Universities. Ms Hilda Addoquaye, first year student of Purchasing and Supply at the polytechnic, said the President performed averagely, in that it is too early to assess his performance, since he has been in office for only a year now.. Ms Addoquaye said the election petition should not be an excuse for non-performance, because there were more developmental projects which could have been worked on, adding that the second year could be best assessed. She said even though the petition slowed down activities in the country for eight months, which affected economic growth, the exercise helped in deepening the country's democratic credentials. "Even though the petition slowed down economic activities and created doubts in the minds of investors for business opportunities, but did not prevent President Mahama from embarking on the necessary developmental projects" she added. She said in spite of the pitfalls in 2013, there is still hope in the years ahead, and called on all and sundry to support the government to deliver on its promise.. Mr Wisdom Hormeku, final year student of Science and Laboratory Technology at the Institute, said the first year of the President Mahama administration is not bad, because development projects are on course. "It will be difficult to assess the first year of the President's administration, especially when it was entangled with a court case, and that subsequent years would be a clear platform to assess the President's performance," he added. He said although there were challenges in 2013, such as election petition, load-shedding exercise that affected domestic and business activities, as well as fire outbreaks, there is still hope for the coming years.