Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the National Democratic Congress’ Big Push Agenda lacks credibility.

According to him, several similar projects that were proposed by the NDC in its 2012 manifesto, but were not executed showing it’s just another ruse by John Mahama which won’t see the light of day.

“If there is somebody to recover this economy, it’s not our colleagues on the other side. And you’ve seen how even their big push my good friend is struggling to explain how they intend to go about this Big Push argument,” he told Evans Mensah on JoyNews’ PM Express, Wednesday.

John Mahama had proposed the Big Push Agenda in his 2020 manifesto – a $10 billion project which was to help push Ghana’s infrastructural development forward.

However, Information Minister Oppong Nkrumah says the NDC cannot be trusted to deliver on the promise.

“Very simply put, the first time they talked about a $10 billion infrastructure programme aimed at delivering any sort of benefit Ghanaians was during the era of Mr Mahama when they sold us the idea of the Hope City.”

He added, “It may sound like a funny subject but that was the first time they sold us a $10 billion infrastructure programme – a public private partnership when Mr Mahama came to cut sod around Weija explaining to us how it was going to be self financing, they were going to build this infrastructure, it was going to lead to technology and jobs etc. And by the time they were leaving power, beyond the sod cutting not much had happened.”

On the show, former deputy Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson had mentioned that the NDC should they be voted into power would construct an inland port at Hamile which will serve the Sahel Region mainly.

However in refuting that proposal, Oppong Nkrumah mentioned the proposal to build an inland port is not alien to the NDC manifesto.

He claimed that the NDC had proposed to build three different inland ports in their 2012 manifesto yet at the end of their tenure had managed to build not even one.

He said, “In their 2012 manifesto, when you look at their big infrastructure plan there’s no difference from what they’re propagating now.

“When you take roads and railways, for example they say they’re going to do the Eastern Corridor , Tema-Esikuma-Ho-Hohoe-Jasikan and Yendi-Nalerigu-Kulungugu with Nkwanta in the Volta region as an inland port. Where are these projects? they never did them.

“When you take the Western Corridor, here they talked about Elubo-Asemkrom-Enchi-Gawso-Sunyani-Bamboi-Bole-Wa-Hamile with Gambia number two in the Brong Ahafo region as an inland port, where is it?

“They said Central spine Accra-Kumasi-Techiman-Bolgatanga-Paga with Boankra in the Ashanti region as an inland port, we are now working on the Boankra project. They had four years.”

For these reasons he says Ghanaians should take the Big Push manifesto promise with a pinch of salt when the NDC comes around talking about it.

“So the first thing that even comes to mind when you hear them talking about the Big Push where they are even hiding the source of funding of the 10 billion is; what is their credibility when it comes to similar conversations?

“And it is quite clear that the last time they made similar promises to the people of Ghana these promises by the time they were leaving power had not been touched.” he concluded.