Tweneboah Fokuo
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manso Nkwanta in the Ashanti Region, Tweneboah Fokuo has parried claims by President John Dramani Mahama that his predecessor, Nana Akufo-Addo, handed over a mismanaged economy.
According to him, the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration left behind a resilient economy in spite of the global challenges such as the COVI-19 pandemic that it had to navigate through.
President Mahama, last week, claimed that the Akufo-Addo/Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia criminally mismanaged the economy, further claiming that Ghana had become a crime scene.
“We all knew the economy was in crisis, but some of the things I am uncovering myself have been a criminal mishandling of our economy. Ghana is now a crime scene. How can a government be so reckless? I cannot understand,” the President said at the National Tripartite Committee meeting last Thursday.
But Mr. Fokuo, in an interview with Channel One TV, said the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government deserve commendation for the way it handled the economy, vis-à-vis the global challenges.
“You have an economy that suffered significantly during COVID, rebounded, and still managed to hand over real GDP growth of 4%, which is really decent,” the MP argued.
He also made reference to the balance of payments, indicating that the previous government ended the year with a positive $3.1 billion balance.
“Handing over a balance of payment very strong, balance of payment of $3.1 billion, very strong end of the year,” he said.
Mr. Fokuo further pointed to improvements in public sector wages, noting that the Akufo-Addo administration cumulatively increased wages by 55% – 30% in 2023 and 25% in 2024.
“All these, you call this economy as having been mismanaged? Then I mean, what figures are we working on?” the MP questioned.
He also highlighted the performance of Ghana’s stock exchange as a sign of economic growth, referencing a 56.2% year-on-year growth in the composite index.
“One of the litmus tests of an economy is its stock exchange. The composite index there year on year grew by 56.2%. This is a fact. The market capitalisation significantly improved,” he said.
Mr. Fokuo therefore, commended former President Akufo-Addo for his economic stewardship and commitment to public sector workers.
“I will commend the ex-president for showing the love and demonstrating it through the payment he made to public sector workers and the fact that he handed over an economy that was really strong,” he added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak