As expected, the Majority and the Minority in Parliament yesterday locked horns over the true state of the country’s economy when they began a debate on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s maiden State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament last Tuesday.
While the Majority said the President’s address had captured the precarious state of the country’s economy, the Minority indicated that the economy that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) inherited in January 7, 2017 was better than the one the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over from the NPP in 2009.
The disagreements were mainly on the debt stock left behind by the NDC government, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, inflation rates, security and how to fund the free senior high school (SHS) education policy.
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, in setting the ground rules for the debate, said there should not be disruptions, but Members of Parliament (MPs) from both sides kept rising on point of order to seek to correct figures and ask for the withdrawal of some statements.
As they made their contributions, the MPs were cheered on by members on their side, while members on the other side tried to dislodge them by passing comments.
Majority defends address
The MP for Wenchi and Minister for Planning, Prof. George Yaw Gyan-Baffour, who moved the motion for the start of the debate, said the President’s message was concise and precise and focused on the main issues affecting the country.
For instance, he said, public finance was in a bad state, the revenue target for 2016 was missed, the deficit continued to remain high at 10.2 per cent, while there was a GH¢122 billion debt.
“It is clear that the economy is not only faltering but is in an ugly state,” he said. Prof. Gyan-Baffour said the vicious circle of debt addiction by the previous government had closed the fiscal space, noting, however, that the government would find innovative ways to grow the economy, create jobs and deal with other challenges without resorting to excessive borrowing.
“The President is a leader who wants to develop the country after years of hopelessness,” he said.
The MP for New Juaben South and Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, said the economy had been in a mess. He said the NDC government missed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) targets of reducing debt and restoring macroeconomic stability, as it had left a deficit of 10.2 per cent.
Dr Assibey-Yeboah said the GH¢9.5 billion debt that the NDC said it inherited from the NPP government in 2009 was an accumulation of debts from Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s era, while the NDC government alone left behind a debt of GH¢122 billion.
The MP for Old Tafo and Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, said granted that inflation had gone down during the Mahama administration, that did not correspond with any growth in the economy.
The consequence, he said, was the increased rate of unemployment in the country, adding: “Things are not okay.”
He said the NDC government missed all the IMF targets because of indiscipline. He indicated that through the one-district, one-factory policy of the NPP government, more jobs would be created in all the 275 constituencies.
Dr Akoto Osei said “excessive expenditure not sanctioned by this House will not be countenanced” by the NPP government.
Minority faults address
The MP for Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, said the GH¢9.5 billion debt that the President said the NPP government left in 2009 would amount to GH¢32 billion when converted to the current dollar rate.
That, he said, would translate into 26 per cent of GDP, not eight per cent as presented by the President. Mr Forson said the GDP growth rate recorded by the NDC government in eight years was higher than the one achieved by the previous NPP government in eight years.
The MP for Ketu South and former Minister of Agriculture, Mr Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, said the economy that the NPP inherited was far better than what the NDC inherited from the NPP in 2009.
He said the NPP had benefited from unprecedented investment in infrastructure and an economic foundation of seven to eight per cent growth outlook for 2017, as predicted by the IMF and the World Bank.
The MP for Cape Coast South and former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, faulted the President for wrongly calculating the debt left behind by the NDC government.
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