The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has dismissed President Nana Akufo-Addo’s suggestion that the Mahama-led administration left Ghana’s economy in crisis.
President Akufo-Addo, in his first State of the Nation address, said his administration did not inherit a stable economy from the erstwhile Mahama-led government.
The President revealed that government missed all the targets set for the country under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme due to fiscal indiscipline in the management of public funds.
But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Ablakwa watered down these claims, saying President Akufo-Addo would not have introduced policies such as the Free SHS programme and Nurses trainee allowance if the economy was indeed broke.
“If you read the full State of the Nation Address, you will come to the conclusion that this economy cannot be a broke economy. This is the same economy that President Akufo Addo is saying that he is able to provide allowances to teacher trainees and nursing trainees. He is able to begin his free SHS programme and we should look forward to the Minister of Finance presenting his budget which will give us details on how he is going to do that. He is also upbeat about implementing a lot of his promises. The one village, one dam policy etc.”
“President Mahama has always spoken to the challenges. There is a difference when you do objective analysis and talk about challenges, and there is another issue that has to do with exaggerating and creating a situation that does not exist. If you say that we have revenue shortfalls; if you talk about the fact that we have missed some of the IMF targets that we have set, yes; that is fair, but in the same breadth, why do we think that the President did not touch on inflation? Because inflation has been trending downwards, interest rates have been trending downwards. So, it is about picking and choosing and the picture you want to paint,” he added.
Though Ablakwa insists the economy is not in crisis as President Akufo-Addo wants Ghanaians to believe, the NPP Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Kwaku Kwarteng, said the President painted a true picture of the state of Ghana’s economy.
“This was a State of the Nation Address. He owed it a responsibility to the people of this country to tell them about the economy he had inherited so he put out the facts. If anybody thinks the facts are wrong, they should say which specific facts are wrong then we can have a discussion on that.”
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