Ghana's Economy: 'John Mahama did worse than late Atta Mills' - John Boadu

The General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu has opined that when it comes to economic performance, former President John Mahama did worse than the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

Addressing the media on Sunday to respond to the NDC's Economic Forum held on Thursday, April 4, at the Mensvic Hotel in Accra following government’s Economic Management Team Townhall meeting on Wednesday, John Boadu noted "Yes, it is true that in a multiparty democracy the acid test to any political decision of the incumbent should be what the alternative is. However, this test becomes suspiciously lethal when the alternative is really scary".

He added that "If you consider the incontrovertible facts, as laid out by the government’s Economic Management Team (EMT) in the speech read by its Chairman, the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, it is clear that in the past two decades Ghana’s economy recorded its worst performance during the four year rule of Mr. John Mahama".

He added that former President Mahama even destroyed whatever future late President Mills was hoping to build.

"...Let me put it another way, President John Dramani Mahama did worse than the late President John Evans Atta Mills. Indeed, you can even say that John Mahama destroyed whatever future John Atta Mills was hoping to build. And, yet, the NDC could not find any other alternative to lead them. And, the alternative they have to the late Amissah Arthur to head their economic management team appears to be Adongo", he said.



He, therefore, stated that when it comes to economic performance, former President John Mahama did worse than his boss the late John Evans Atta Mills who only ruled Ghana for three years.

He continued that "Up until today, John Mahama has not been able to explain two nation-wrecking events that happened under his rule – both in election years".

He added that "In the few months that he became President before the 2012 general elections, he spent an additional GHS4 billion that was not budgeted for in his desperate attempt to win that election. We all recall the rlg laptops that were prepaid but the students never got them. We all remember the tens of millions of dollars worth of SADA trees that were prepaid but never planted and the Guinea Fowls that were also prepaid but never seen only to be told they flew to Burkina Faso. The schools under trees projects that were never built but paid for we did. For the NDC under Mahama, creativity was limited to how to steal money from the state. What did he do with the GHS4 billion? Where is the money?".

He emphasized that "Again in 2016, John Mahama spent an additional GHS7 billion presumably on capital expenditure that was not budgeted for yet was spent on costly infrastructure, and many of these with inflated price tags can neither be seen today nor were they even priority projects for the country. That GHS7 billion extra money spent on infrastructure in 2016, the NPP is calling on John Mahama and his NDC to show us what they did with it and we will show them that we are able to do three times more with even a smaller amount. What he did was simply to use that allegedly on contracts that did not benefit the people he was elected to serve. But added hugely to our debt stockpile up, which we continue to pay for painfully today".

He noted that "By the end of 2012, as a result of John Mahama taking over the Presidency after the sad passing of then President Atta Mills, the economy had been plunged into one of the worst fiscal deficits in our history at 12.2% of GDP. Ghana never recovered from that unprecedented recklessness from the same person who is now coming back to ask for your votes in 2020".