You don’t develop a nation with freebies; create jobs – Mahama to Akufo-Addo

The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr John Mahama, has asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to create jobs for Ghanaians to have the purchasing power to afford goods and services rather than keep throwing freebies at the citizenry, noting that countries do not develop that way.

The Akufo-Addo government has offered a lot of free packages to the citizenry since the COVID-19 pandemic entered Ghana, as part of measures to mitigate the consequential financial burden brought about by the disease.

They include free water and electricity, tax cuts for frontline health workers among others.

However, during an interaction with members of the Association of Road Contractors, Mr Mahama said: “This government is prioritising consumption”, adding: “No government develops prioritising consumption”.

“You have to invest money in the productive sectors and the productive sectors would create jobs and the jobs will create prosperity for the people”, he said.

“But if you say everybody should stay at home and we will give you everything free, free; free this, free that.

“All the countries that have developed, they didn’t develop like that”, he pointed out.

The former President said: “You must assure the people of jobs; if people are working and getting money, what would they need free for if they can afford to pay. And somebody says, ‘let’s have a competition on social intervention’; social interventions are consumption. “They should say, ‘let’s have competition in who invested more in the real sectors than the other’. We were doing 4.7 per cent of GDP investment in the real sector, today they can hardly achieve 3 per cent.”