President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that the policies and programmes being implemented by his government will improve their living conditions, and help put Ghana on the path of progress and prosperity.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the vision of a progressive, prosperous Ghana envisioned by the nation’s founding fathers must be realized in our generation.

It is for this reason that his government has begun to fulfil the promises made in the run-up to the 2016 elections.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Thursday when he began his 3-day tour of the Central Region with a courtesy call on the Central Regional House of Chiefs and addressed a durbar of Chiefs at Twifo Atti Morkwaa.

The President indicated that upon his assumption of office, he inherited an economy in deep crisis and had to put in place several measures to nurse it back to full health.

The implementation of policies such as Free SHS, 1-District-1-Factory, programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, 1-Village-1-Dam, together with the revival of the National Health Insurance Scheme, he said, have been made possible because of the stability brought to bear on the Ghanaian economy.    

At Twifo Atti Morkwa, a constituency won by the New Patriotic Party in 2016, for the first time in the history of the 4^th Republic, the President told the Chiefs and people that an audit of the cocoa roads is being carried out, and very soon cocoa roads in the constituency will be constructed.

Additionally, a 60-bed hospital under construction at the constituency, he assured, will soon be completed, as equipment for the hospital is at currently at the Tema port, and will be cleared soon for delivery to Twifo Atti Morkwaa.

With the Free SHS programme being a flagship policy of his government, President Akufo-Addo stressed that the programme will commence in September 2017, which will benefit the 1,200 students at the basic level in the constituency.  

“I have been bastardised by several persons who claim the Free SHS policy is a misplaced priority, a lie, and cannot be done. The Free SHS policy, I wish to assure them, will start from September,” he said.

The 1-District-1-Factory policy, President Akufo-Addo noted, will be rolled out in the course of this month and will create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Touching on mining, President Akufo-Addo stated that as far back as the 15^th century, there was the recognition that mining was important for the country’s economy.

“Mining is part of our heritage. It is not under an Akufo-Addo government that mining is going to be abolished. I can never abolish mining. Those saying I am trying to abolish mining are just doing propaganda. Mining is an integral part of our country’s heritage,” he said.

What his government cannot have, however, is for illegal mining to compromise the country’s environment.

“Our lands, water bodies and forests are also part of our heritage. I swore an oath before the Almighty and before Ghanaians to govern in accordance with the rule of law, and also to protect the territorial integrity of our nation.

"I am mandated by the laws of the land to protect our lands and water bodies,” he said.

The President assured the Chiefs and people of Twifo Atti Morkwaa of his determination to improving their living conditions, stressing that “you already have an MP, in the person of Abraham Odoom. But you have a second MP who is called Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”