Ghana's debt now GH¢111 billion - Bawumia

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, NPP Vice-Presidential Candidate, has stated that President John Mahama and members of his government deliberately misled Ghanaians on the end-of-year debt figures for 2015 when they claimed that the figure was less than 99 billion Ghana Cedis.

Delivering a lecture at the Accra Polytechnic last Thursday, Dr. Bawumia disputed the figures and challenged the government to disclose the true position of Ghana’s debt as at the end of December 2015.

“In the last seven years alone under this NDC government Ghana’s total debt has ballooned from GH¢9.5billion to GH¢99 billion by the end of 2015.

"When we mentioned a month ago that Ghana’s debt at the end of 2015 was going to be around GHC 99 billion, the government disputed this figure and stated that it was GHC 97 billion. Today however, I can confirm that Ghana’s debt at the end of 2015 was indeed GHC99 billion. I challenge the government to deny this”, he said.

Dr. Bawumia noted that he was amazed that the government despite having all the data on the true state of Ghana’s debt, could still attempt to mislead Ghanaians on the issue.

“What amazes us is how members of the government who were in possession of the data could come out to mislead the people of Ghana. How could someone like me who did not have all the data do a better projection than members of the government who had the actual data?. I keep saying you cannot do propaganda with the economy but sadly this government is yet to learn”, he stated.

Speaking to the packed auditorium of students from the Accra Polytechnic, other tertiary institutions and members of the general public who descended on the campus to listen to the lecture, Dr. Bawumia also disclosed that Ghana’s debt had once again ballooned from GHC 99billion to GHC 111billion as at the end of March 2016.

“You have the President quoting different debt figures from his Ministers of Finance and all of them are wrong! The incompetence of this government is just mindboggling! Ghana’s debt stock at the end of March 2016 is now projected to be around GH¢111 billion! Quite frankly the quantum of borrowing that has been undertaken by this government in the last seven years is nothing short of reckless and has a direct bearing on the high unemployment in the country.”, he added.

Government Submits Plan to Lay Off Workers to IMF

Dr.Bawumia while touching on the government’s direct actions that had led to the unprecedented unemployment crisis facing the nation disclosed that the government had just a few months ago (December 2015) submitted a plan to the IMF on how it is going to lay off public sector workers beginning 2017, despite earlier denials about the agreement with the IMF to retrench workers of the Public Sector.

“To worsen matters, government has placed a ban on public sector employment and it appears things will worsen come next year when the government rolls out its agreement with the IMF to lay off workers.

"The government in typical fashion has denied this but it is true. Just in December 2015 the government presented a plan to the IMF for the rationalization of civil servants beginning in 2017.”, he disclosed.

He once again tasked the government to fully disclose the plans on the layoffs to the Ghanaian public saying, “I am asking the government in the interest of transparency to make this document public. The IMF is not more important than Ghanaians in the discourse on this matter. If the government has nothing to hide, it should make the document public.”, he concluded.