Coronavirus has delayed but not derailed our progress as a nation – Bawumia

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has expressed optimism that the strong economic fundamentals of the Akufo-Addo government will propel the country to overcome the devastating effects of Coronavirus on the economy.

In an exclusive interview with Kwame Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's Kokrokooo on Tuesday, the Vice President indicated that COVID-19 has only delayed the progress of the country but has not derailed the progress of the nation.

"COVID-19 has delayed but not derailed our progress as a nation," Vice President Bawumia said.

He added that the strong economic fundamentals of the country, as positively indicated by all economic indicators prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, shows the Akufo-Addo government has what it takes to keep the country moving forward.

"We inherited a very bad economy but in just three years, we had turned it around before COVID-19 hit us earlier this year and this helped us to respond. It also shows we have what it takes to move the country forward beyond the pandemic," Dr Bawumia indicated.

The Vice President added that the outbreak of the pandemic offered the government a practical implementation of the Ghana Beyond Aid vision of President Akufo-Addo, and it will help accelerate the vision of self-production and self-sufficiency.

"The President has been talking about Ghana beyond aid and when COVID struck, it gave us a practical implementation of Ghana Beyond aid," said the Vice President.

"We realised we didn't have PPE in our hospitals and we decided not to import these critical equipment but to produce them locally ourselves.

"Domestic production is very important and we are looking at that; producing things internally."

"As we have in our manifesto, we are focusing on a lot of made in Ghana products in terms of government procurement."

Dr Bawumia further indicated that post-COVID, President Akufo-Addo’s flagship industrialisation One District One Factory policy will play a significant role in the forward march of the country.

"Thankfully for Ghana, we were already on the path of Ghana beyond aid, and with COVID, it is going to accelerate Ghana beyond aid."

"When you look at industrialisation, 1D1F is already in place and we are ahead of many countries in Africa in terms of industrialisation."

"The automotive industry is also coming on stream and coming in its own. VW is in, Kantanka is here and Toyota is coming.

"We are building all these automobile industries to come in and move the country forward together with other industries."

Ghana has been hailed as a rare example in Africa as having handled the Coronavirus pandemic well, in terms of government's response to the crisis.

The government has earned praise for its direct handling of the virus, as well as its mitigating measures to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on businesses and citizens, especially low-income earners.