Propaganda cannot manage Ghana’s economy – Bawumia tells NDC

The 2016 vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has cautioned the Mahama-led NDC administration to desist from managing the country's economy with propaganda.

Speaking on the 2016 Budget at the headquarters of the opposition NPP, Dr. Bawumia said the NDC government can engage in any form of propaganda but using propaganda to deceive Ghanaians on the true state of the economy is impossible.

“This 2016 budget is the eighth main budget in 7 years that the NDC has delivered. All of them promised a “Better Ghana” yet the outcomes, consistently, have been very abysmal. The eight main budgets over the last seven years have promised to address these challenges with various policies and the 2016 budget is no different.

“Today, the promise is to “change lives and transform the economy”. One really wonders if this government is in touch with reality. The reality for most Ghanaians is that the economic policies of this government have destroyed many lives as young graduates are unable to find jobs, people are unable to pay school fees for their wards, people cannot pay for hospital fees, businesses are collapsing, etc.

“Many lives have been destroyed and the economy, as we would show shortly has rather been deformed and not transformed. We have kept warning the government that you cannot use propaganda to manage an economy. The reality is that the people are suffering under this government and there is no transformation. Propaganda cannot change this reality”.

The former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana added that “Ghanaians were promised a ‘Better Ghana” in 2008 but going into the 8th year of government in 2016, this government has delivered one of the worst economic performances of any government in Ghana’s history.

“The record after the seven main budgets of the NDC is definitely not one of a “Better Ghana” than the one this government inherited in 2009. Rather, it is a record of a monumental waste of an historic opportunity to transform the economy of Ghana and improve the lives of Ghanaians.

“While budgets are a statement of intent for the year ahead, there is no substitute for a seven year record of performance.

We have an opportunity today to compare the record of performance of the NPP government of 2001-2008 under President J.A. Kufuor and the NDC administrations of Presidents Mills and Mahama (2009-2015), comment on the 2016 budget and present an alternative vision for the NPP that will guide future NPP budgets under a Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo government”.