Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said there is nothing untoward by the NPP administration to warrant the so-called ‘Rescue Mission’ agenda that former President John Mahama and his NDC are claiming to push.
He said “you remember that the NDC government had to go to the IMF to rescue the economy. That was indeed a rescue mission!” Dr. Bawumia said yesterday when he delivered a major address on the future of the country’s economy as part of the Nation Building Updates (NBU) at the Cedi Conference Centre of the Department of Economics, University of Ghana.
He said “It was clear that the Mahama-led NDC government had lost its way, failed Ghanaians, and did not have any idea how to get us out of the ditch it had driven us into.”
He urged Ghanaians to continue to support President Akufo-Addo and the NPP administration by voting for him again because he said his boss had shown faith with Ghanaians by fulfilling his electoral promises.
“We ask you to give us four more years because our government, borne out of the NPP, under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has kept faith with you, Ghanaians, by delivering on the commitments we made to you,” he added.
He said that the Akufo-Addo government had been able to turn the fortunes of the economy around, recalling the mismanagement and its accompanying harsh conditions that had hit the country under the administration of former President Mahama.
“I am aware you need no reminders of the dire economic conditions at the time we came into office. You lived and breathed it, and bore the human cost of the economic mismanagement that was visited upon us by the Mahama-led NDC government,” Dr. Bawumia said.
He mentioned growing unemployment leading to the formation of Unemployed Graduates Association, the effects of four years of dumsor which led to job losses, high electricity tariffs, collapsing NHIS and ambulance service, lack of basic facilities like textbooks and chalks in public schools, cancellation of nursing and teacher trainee allowances, backlog of unemployed nurses, non-payment of teachers, burdensome taxes, series of scandals, etc were some of the problems the NPP inherited but had taken practical steps and were solving them.
“It was clear that the Mahama-led NDC government had lost its way, failed Ghanaians and did not have any idea how to get us out of the ditch it had driven us into,” he said.
The Vice-President said that the Akufo-Addo government’s vision was broadly anchored on seven objectives, which he said were to “stabilize and grow the economy, transform the economy, create jobs, especially for the youth, modernize, digitize and formalize the economy, make development inclusive and protect the vulnerable, fight corruption and create a safe and secure environment for citizens and businesses to thrive.”
He then explained how the government had been able to work hard to solve the problems outlined and said when their mandate was extended they would do even more.
“Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic which has impacted all economies in the world, we established the economy. We reduced inflation, doubled economic growth in our first three years, reduced the exchange rate depreciation; the exchange rate depreciation stabilized, with Ghana recording the lowest depreciation in the last 28,” he said, adding, “We have also reduced the fiscal deficit (pre Covid-19), improved our external payments position, which is stronger today than it was in 2016 (notwithstanding the pandemic). Interest rates are on the decline in line with decline inflation expectations.”
Dr. Bawumia also recalled the clean-up of the “mess in the financial sector that we inherited,” including government’s decision to pay up to 50,000 to all customers of affected fund management companies on “compassionate grounds.”
“We took the decisive decisions to avoid the collapse of the financial sector, save the deposits of 4.6 million depositors and save jobs. Thus far, government has spent GH¢21 billion to clean up the sector; 99% of depositors of the affected banks, microfinance and savings and loans companies have been fully settled.”
The Vice-President noted that the impressive performance of the Akufo-Addo government led to Ghana becoming the investment destination of choice in West Africa and had led to new opportunities for Ghanaians and businesses.
By Ernest Kofi Adu