Baah Wiredu Takes Asaga to Task

The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, has said that the Minority Spokesman on Finance, Mr. Moses Asaga's much touted $417 per capita income for 1999 claim, as compared to the current year's $374, was misleading.

By this assertion, he ignored the per capita income of $ 263 for year 2000 which was their (NDC's) legacy and instead, dwelt on that of 1999, thereby "misleading Ghanaians."

Hon. Baah-Wiredu made the refutation in an interview with The Chronicle at Konogo last Wednesday "to set the records straight."

Quoting from the September 18, 2003 issue of Standard and Poors, a Research Company on Ghana's rating, he pointed out that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was $ 417 in 1999.

It however, dropped to $ 263 in 2000 when the NDC was in power, he explained.

Hon. Baah-Wiredu, who described Standard and Poors as one of the best, said it was the NPP government which stabilized the economy, culminating in the GDP rising to $ 274, $ 311 and $ 374 in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively.

He said the economic indicators show that the economy is on track as a "result of the NPP government's good policies".

Hon. Asaga made his claim in Parliament on Tuesday, November 4, this year when the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo presented a review of the government's economic policies.

Asaga had said, "The GDP per capita is stunted and still at $ 374 per year," indicating that "something is wrong with the economic policies."

He had further said the country's GDP annual growth rate is less than 5 percent and it should "grow at 7 to 8 percent to achieve a middle - income status which the government is failing to achieve."

But, in a point of order, Finance Minister, Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, as mentioned in the Hansard of Parliament, a copy of which has been obtained by The Chronicle, countered that " the GDP average growth was 3.9 percent for twenty years."

Hon. Asaga mentioned the Ghana Rating Document as his source when he was challenged by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Papa Owusu-Ankomah to do so.

The Minority Spokesman on Finance alleged that the NPP government "sold Ghana cheaply to the US by signing the infamous anti-International Criminal Court Bilateral Agreement for a paltry sum of $4 million."

He contended that the government should have bargained for something higher in the region of $ 500 million before signing because other signatories like Turkey negotiated for $ 20 billion whilst Egypt earns $ 1.5 billion upwards in aid.

When challenged by the Interior Minister, Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, that there was no such thing as signing for a price, he said, "It was said that among some of the benefits would be .. Four million dollars."

Hon. Asaga's estimation was that, with Ashanti Goldfields Company's valued at $ 1.7 billion, a higher price tag would have been better for the country.