Patrick Boamah
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Okaikwei Central Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Boamah, has stated that President John Dramani Mahama’s recent State of the Nation Address, lacked balance and misrepresented the state of Ghana’s economy.
In an interview, Mr. Boamah pointed to several discrepancies between the President’s statements and the actual fiscal situation inherited by the current administration.
He noted that the President referred to the economy as “criminally mismanaged” by the previous government, but he argued that this claim did not align with the available financial documents.
According to him, Mr. Boamah the Akufo-Addo administration, through the Expenditure in the Advance of Appropriation, left behind over GH¢68 billion allocated for key areas such as employee compensation, goods and services, subsidies, and capital expenditure.
The MP explained that these funds helped ensure the continued operation of critical government functions, including the payment of salaries, pensions, and interest payments, despite the economic challenges.
“Had the economy been mismanaged to the extent claimed, how could these payments have been made?” Mr. Boamah questioned, adding that the accusations of criminal mismanagement were unfair and lacked factual backing.
He stressed that while Ghana was indeed facing economic challenges, including being part of an IMF programme and dealing with domestic debt issues, the claims made by the President appeared to be politically charged, especially in light of the fact that no budget had yet been presented by the new administration.
On the issue of Ghana’s cocoa sector, the MP also took issue with the President’s handling of the sector’s 32 billion cedi debt.
He clarified that the debt did not arise solely under the current government but was a result of previous commitments, including cocoa road projects, fertilizer subsidies, and a facility from the African Development Bank aimed at rehabilitating cocoa farms.
Mr. Boamah emphasised that issues such as fertilizer costs, cocoa road projects, and the rollover of cocoa stock were ongoing challenges that the previous administration also grappled with.
Additionally, the MP addressed the President’s comments on the energy sector, particularly the so-called “dumsor” situation.
While the President claimed to have fixed the power crisis by 2016, Mr. Boamah pointed out that a load-shedding timetable was still in effect as late as August of that year, indicating that the issue had not been entirely resolved during the President’s tenure.
The MP also commented on corruption investigations within the National Service Authority (NSA), expressing his support for a thorough investigation into any malpractices.
However, he called for a non-partisan approach to investigating these matters, suggesting that it would be more appropriate to look into past activities at the NSA over the last 15 to 20 years rather than focusing exclusively on the actions of recent officials.
Mr. Boamah further questioned the President’s handling of judicial matters, particularly the controversial actions of the Attorney General in discharging over 60 individuals standing trial.
He argued that such decisions, particularly involving high-profile public figures, sent the wrong message to the public and raised concerns about the selective application of justice.
On the issue of the budget, Mr. Boamah highlighted that while the President had claimed to pay off significant debts, such as the fourth tranche of Eurobond payments, the reality was that much of the funds used for these payments were from provisions made under the previous administration’s budget arrangements, rather than from a newly presented budget.
Mr. Boamah called for a more measured and balanced approach to governance and communication from the President, urging the government to acknowledge the contributions of past administrations when discussing ongoing projects and initiatives.
He cautioned against using official addresses for political campaigning, especially when important national issues were at stake.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House