President Nana Akufo-Addo
Truth be told, the critics could not have been entirely correct for passionately asserting somewhat that President Akufo-Addo has willfully worsened the plight of Ghanaians since assuming power on January 7, 2017.
The fact, however, remains that under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, Ghana, unfortunately, experienced massive economic meltdown which regrettably brought to pass harsh socio-economic standards of living.
Considering the extent of the economic collapse, it was always going to be very difficult for any government to reverse such mess within the shortest possible time.
More recently, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) concluded in its country report released on May 13, 2019 that ex-President John Dramani Mahama will find it extremely difficult to convince discerning Ghanaians into accepting that he is the viable alternative custodian of Ghana’s economy, giving the country’s fairly strong economic growth under President Akufo-Addo.
Interestingly, however, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) findings of its September 2019 review of Ghana’s economy support the EIU earlier report that Ghana’s economy is in a favourable position under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
In fact, under Akufo-Addo’s Presidency, Ghana’s economic growth has moved from a disappointing 3.4% under ex-President Mahama in December 2016 to over 8%.
And, the previously double digit inflation (15.4% in December 2016) has been reduced drastically to around 7.8%, as I write.
Besides, since assuming power on January 7, 2017, the Akufo-Addo government has rolled out numerous social intervention programmes and policies.
By and large, it is spurious for the skeptics of the Akufo-Addo administration to assert that the blossoming economy is not reflecting in the pockets of Ghanaians.
With hindsight, the vast majority of Ghanaians are benefiting immensely from the implementation of many social intervention programmes and policies.
For example, upon taking office, the Akufo-Addo government took pragmatic steps and restored the nurses and teachers allowances which were regrettably cancelled by the erstwhile Mahama administration.
So do the economic experts want to tell us that such interventions aren’t reflecting in the pockets of the nurses and teachers?
In addition, the Akufo-Addo government has judiciously distributed the national resources in the form of Free SHS, which has paved way for more than 400,000 children a year, including the over 190,000 children who otherwise would not have the opportunity to enter senior high school.
There is no gainsaying the fact that parents are reaping tremendous benefits from the Free SHS policy.
It is anticipated that the government will spend not less than GH¢5532.83 over a period of three years on each student.
In effect, parents with three children in SHS will be pocketing not less than GH¢16,598.49 over three years.
How can any economist convince some of us, who are mere plebes when it comes to economics that the Free SHS scheme is not reflecting in the lives of Ghanaian parents?
Considering the fact that the erstwhile Mahama administration willfully left behind massive debt amidst economic meltdown, it is, indeed, commendable for the Akufo-Addo government to afford to implement the seemingly admirable, albeit expensive social intervention such as Free SHS.
It is also admirable for the incumbent NPP government to relieve Ghanaians of over 18 nuisance taxes which had hitherto crippled businesses.
More recently, the sensitive Akufo-Addo government commendably slashed the import taxes (30% on cars and 50% on goods) to the utter delight of importers and Ghanaians as a whole.
In fact, since the announcement of the reduction of benchmark values, some beneficiaries have attested to considerable discounts.
Credible sources have it that following the announcement, the duty on a Toyota Corolla saloon car, for example, has been reduced from GH¢22,000 to GH¢15, 000.
Obviously, there is a considerable discount of GH¢7000. Isn’t this money going into a Ghanaian pocket?
We also heard another importer narrating how he previously paid GH¢14,000 duty on a certain saloon car and only paid GH¢9,500 after the announcement.
Dearest reader, is this individual not pocketing GH¢4,500 because of good governance?
Clearly, the lives of Ghanaians are being transformed steadily through many pragmatic interventions such as tax reductions (including import taxes), favourable economic growth, low inflation, gargantuan savings on Free SHS, amongst others.
The seasoned journalist, Kweku Baako Jnr, hit the nail on the head when he pointed out on Joy FM’s political show (News File) on Saturday, April 6, 2019 that the NPP administration led by President Akufo-Addo had performed exceedingly better than the erstwhile NDC government led by Mr. Mahama.
Juxtaposing the state of the economy in the first two years of the two administrations, Baako Jnr aptly concluded that the economy is in a better shape under the Akufo-Addo administration than it was under the Mahama administration.
He, therefore, said poignantly, “There’s no doubt that the Akufo-Addo administration has done far better than the Mahama administration; it’s as simple as that. The figures and the records support it (myjoyonline.com, 6/04/2019).”
The Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms Christine Lagarde, could not have put it any better when she said that the Ghanaian economy was in a better place than it was in the previous years under the Mahama administration.
Ms. Lagarde, however, stressed that the Akufo-Addo government had made important gains towards macroeconomic stability, including inflation, which had declined to a single digit and now within the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) tolerance band; buoyant growth, averaging about five per cent between 2015 and 2018, and, over six per cent in 2017-18, and a primary surplus in 2017 for the first time in 15 years (IMF 2018).
k.badu2011@gmail.com
K. Badu, London UK