Former president John Mahama
It is boundlessly illogical for the NDC brassbound supporters to choose to ignore the successive NDC governments dreadful errors in judgement which invariably destabilised Ghana’s macroeconomic indicators, and, would rather point accusing fingers at the likes of CPP, PNP, NLC, SMC, and NPP for Ghana’s underdevelopment.
Truly, I share the same sentiments of the sceptics who contend that despite spending 27 years in government, the successive NDC governments failed woefully to improve upon the socio-economic standards of living of Ghanaians.
Apparently the contending schools of thought have been arguing vehemently that the successive NDC governments only managed to destabilise Ghana’s macroeconomic indicators through unobjectionable incompetence and wanton corruption.
If you may remember, it was Ex-President Mahama who astonishingly claimed that they, (the NDC government) had rapaciously consumed all the meat on the bone. How bizarre?
Ex-President Mahama, to be fair, was alluding to Ghana’s unprecedented economic collapse as a result of unpardonable mismanagement and rampant sleazes and corruption under his watch.
And, considering the fact that the erstwhile NDC government left a huge debt amid massive economic meltdown, one would have expected the same people who wilfully caused such a mess to show a little remorse and refrain from accusing the NPP government of not turning the economy around quickly, but that hasn’t been the case. The NDC operatives are all over the place grumbling and censuring the NPP government for the perceived slow pace in development in barely eighteen months in office.
The fact remains that if the corrupt officials of the erstwhile NDC government had not embezzled the funds meant for various developmental projects, the NPP government would have enough funds at its disposal to undertake a lot of developmental projects, including the expansion of the free SHS to cover all the students in forms 1 to 3.
It is absolutely true that the huge funds involved in the bribery and corruption scandals in the SSNIT, SUBA, SADA, GYEEDA, Woyome, the Brazil world cup, the infamous bus branding,NSS, amongst others would have funded a lot of infrastructural projects.
If we revisit memory lane, before the formation of the NDC in 1992, the founder of the NDC, J. J. Rawlings and his coup making friends vowed to purge off the alleged widespread sleazes, corruption and social injustices in the country which instigated their coup d’états in 1979 and 1981.
Ironically, however, sleazes and corruption are deep rooted in the same party whose founder claims to abhor so much to the extent that he previously exterminated corruption suspects, many of whom would not have been given a community service in a true democracy.
The spate of corruption in the country during the erstwhile NDC administration was alarming and cannot be allowed to pass without commenting.
Back then, due to the repulsive activities of the corrupt officials of the outgone NDC government, the innocent citizens ended up experiencing economic hardships, starvation, depression, emotional labour and squalor which sent the vast majority to their early graves.
Even though it is somewhat humdrum to keep belabouring the point about the sorrowful state of Ghana’s economy under the erstwhile NDC administration, for the sake of balanced annotation, it is important to state the facts anyhow.
It is, indeed, extremely disturbing to keep hearing and reading from the same people who wilfully collapsed the once thriving economy up in arms and shouting from the roof top about the current state of Ghana’s economy after only eighteen months of NPP government assuming power.
How could individuals who disgustingly throw Ghana’s economy deeper and deeper into the mire turn around and accuse the infant NPP government of economic mismanagement in barely eighteen months into office?
Let us face it, it was the same NDC government that spent excessively and above its means and in the process needlessly increased our total debt from GH9.5 billion in 2009 to GH122.4 billion as of December 2016.
This means that there was virtually no money left in the national purse for the incoming NPP government to manage the affairs of the country.
It would thus appear that the vociferous minority NDC operatives have no regard for accepted rules and standards. This may explain why the clamorous opposition NDC operatives are bizarrely up in arms about the NPP government’s prudent spending on capital expenditure.
It is, indeed, boundlessly unconscionable for the minority NDC operatives to expect President Akufo-Addo and his NPP government to spend monies they don’t have, notwithstanding the fact that it was the same people who abhorrently emptied the national coffers to the dismay of discerning Ghanaians.
But in spite of the seemingly insurmountable difficulties, since assuming power, the Akufo-Addo’s government has taken commendable strides to improve the social mobility through implementation of poverty reduction policies such as free SHS, one district one factory, one million dollars per constituency, tax reductions, a dam per village in the northern part of Ghana, among others.
In addition to the pragmatic and judicious implementation of social interventions, the Akufo-Addo’s government has efficiently raised the economic growth from a disappointing 3.5 per cent as of December 2016 to around 8.5 per cent within a short space of time.
Upon taking office, the NPP government has dramatically reversed the inflation rate to a little over 9 per cent from a little over 15 per cent as of December 2016 (GSS 2017).
If the current economic outlook is anything to go by, then I can confidently state that President Akufo-Addo is fixing former President Mahama’s massive economic mess head-on.
K. Badu, UK.
k.badu2011@gmail.com
