The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has hit back at former President John Dramani Mahama, insisting that the 2020 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has no solutions to Ghana’s perennial problems.
The party said Mr. Mahama’s recent complaint of weak revenue mobilisation, high debt investment in infrastructure, rigidities in job creation and general difficulties in generating and protecting livelihoods is a ‘subterfuge’.
NPP Director of Communications, Yaw Buaben Asamoa at a press conference at the party’s headquarters on Thursday, stated that in spite of his long stay in power, ex-President Mahama is yet to learn any lessons about public sector finances for job creation.
“In his speech, he complains about a gap in financing of the public wage bill. Then he states the creation of one million jobs in the public sector. How is he going to fund those jobs?” he quizzed.
He continued that the 2020 NDC presidential candidate had soon forgotten that public sector jobs “do not turn a profit but rather facilitate other sectors of the economy,” and asked rhetorically “without clear revenue, how is he to generate and pay three shifts of public sector workers?”
“In some ways, the near impossible promises show an unprepared John Mahama selfishly seeking your mandate by exploiting your current difficulties.
“The issues are real but John Mahama and the NDC are not the solution. The CDD post-election 2020 survey is clear. All told, only 35% of the people surveyed voted for the NDC because of performance,” Mr. Asamoa stated.
He said the voter reduction against the NPP was for the NPP to react positively, and therefore, “from 60% to 70% of voters expect changes in the NPP style of governance in order to continue to break the eight rather than change to NDC and set us back.”
He pledged the NPP government’s commitment to continue to respect Ghana’s democracy and the will of the people as well as the peoples’ rights and support the discharge of their obligations.
“We will continue to respect the dignity of the people. We will continue to push for substantial changes to the world financial architecture so we can also help our people out of distress. We will continue to champion programmes that support the delivery of crucial infrastructure, and create jobs and incomes,” he stressed.
The NPP Communications Director noted that its government would also continue to offer clear visionary leadership that not only diagnosis problems, but seeks to resolve them, saying, “We will continue to offer hope and belief in the Ghanaian and Ghana.”
According to him, the party has been forced to respond to losing candidate Mahama because many well-meaning Ghanaians had become worried over the former President’s “attitude and words set Ghana back and so it’s critical that the NPP is ready.”
“Former President John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not the alternative.
“Whatever John Mahama is doing now is about John Mahama and his personal gain. We do not believe it’s about the people of Ghana because none of his sayings has a plan for Ghana,” he intimated.
Mr. Asamoa said Mahama’s track record in governance in Ghana shows that he is unable to help Ghana progress, and continued that “indeed, any would-be political leader of this era who refuses to recognise the true depth of social and economic stress imposed by Covid-19, seriously amplifying existing challenges, shows that he is only bent on taking power for his own purposes and not for Ghana.”
“The most powerful democracy on earth, the United States of America, has had to spend trillions of dollars in deficit financing of public infrastructure to kick start employment and pay direct cash subsidies to victims of Covid-19 amid job losses in the millions.
“They have a publicly funded programme to administer Covid-19 jabs to over 300 million people. We in Ghana, by virtue of our weak position in the world of international finance, do not have the luxury of deficit financing our way out of our economic difficulties,” he pointed out.
He said the government is obliged to finance roads, energy, water, sanitation, ICT connectivity, education, health and salaries and support job creation from a weak tax base, expensive loans and inadequate concessional grants.
“Faced by these traditional challenges, the NPP has articulated a vision of Ghana Beyond Aid, and is seeking through innovative measures to expand the tax base, clean up revenue leakages, tighten expenditure controls and diversify economic activities into value addition for international competitiveness.”
He stated the NPP government has a plan and road map it was implementing, unlike Mr. Mahama, who is seeking the mandate of the NDC to lead again for the fifth time.
“The first time was by default as he was sworn in as President on the sad demise of H.E Professor Atta Mills. He delivered a ‘critical policy actions’ paper in September 2012 in which he decried all the ills of Ghana without any workable solutions. Then he bulldozed his way to the nomination in 2012, winning an election that was disputed in the Supreme Court for eight months.
“His first term Presidency was distinguished by his declaration to Parliament that the beautiful middle income economy inherited from Kufuor had been ‘chewed to the bone’ under his leadership and, despite the lavish economic forum held at the Royal Senchi Hotel, supposedly to develop “home-grown” economic solutions, the return of the same economy to the IMF,” he asserted.
By Ernest Kofi Adu