President John Mahama
Outgoing President John Dramani Mahama will give his last ‘State of the Nation’ address in parliament today – which would be his last public appearance before he officially hands over power to President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo on Saturday, January 7.
President Mahama’s valedictory ‘State of the Nation’ address will definitely stoke emotions as the majority National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) will bid him farewell, while the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs – who will be in the majority in the next parliament – will be relishing their overwhelming victory during the last elections as they say ‘good bye’ to the president.
It would be mixed feelings today in parliament but the minority might be heckling President Mahama if he comes to trumpet his infrastructural achievements and play down the economic woes facing Ghanaians under his administration.
The NPP MP for Trobu, Moses Anim, told DAILY GUIDE that he expects the outgoing president to be candid to himself about the economic mess he has created before leaving office for a new government to take over.
“President Mahama is going to bequeath to Nana Akufo-Addo a weakened economy. GDP was 9.1% when the NDC government took over power in 2008, but it has dropped to 3.7%; the agricultural sector which is the mainstay of the economy, has grown negatively from 7.4% to 2.5% in eight years under this government, while a huge loan burden is going to be left by this government,” Mr Moses Anim said.
He stressed that the present government borrowed over GH¢100 billion in eight years as compared to GH¢9.5 billion borrowed by all governments from independence to 2008 when the present government took over.
He said if the president comes to do any ‘propaganda’ as he did last year with his so-called evidence-based State of the Nation address, it would be a big dishonesty on his part.
“President Mahama is leaving office on January 7 but is now actively rushing people into official employment to create problems for the incoming president,” the noted, adding that the president must admit that he had left the economy in a much more terrible state than he came to meet it.
The MP for Dome/Kwabenya, Adwoa Safo, said that she expects the president to tell the nation how much was actually invested in his “so-called infrastructural projects” as against the total amount of loans his government secured for development projects.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr