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No one in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration wishes to accept responsibility for the present economic mess, according to former president John Dramani Mahama.
He claimed that every nominee, including their flagbearer aspirants who were a member of the Economic Management Team, is avoiding the spotlight.
The government maintains that it cannot be held responsible for the current financial catastrophe.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia referred to Ghana’s request for IMF assistance as a “quadruple whammy” in July 2022.
According to him, the effects of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the financial sector clean-up, and the surplus energy capacity payments caused Ghana to rejoin the Bretton Woods organization.
The President himself, Nana Akufo-Addo, as well as government communicators have all blamed the economic crisis on covid and the Russia-Ukraine war.
But Mr Mahama speaking at the launch of his campaign to be elected NDC flagbearer on Thursday, 2 March 2023, at the Volta Region said Ghana’s problems which was avoidable begun six years ago.
He told his audience, “no one in this NPP government wants to take responsibility for anything, including their flagbearer hopefuls, most of whom were part of their Economic Management Team.
“They continue to lay blame for their economic disaster on external factors whose relationship with our present sorry circumstances are at most tenuous.”
Mr Mahama said this economic collapse has been years in the making “just as we know it was entirely avoidable.”
He lamented that amid all the suffering, the government remains obstinate and refuses to back down from the “costly missteps that led us here in the first place.”
He claims the government continues “to waste the precious little we have on dodgy and misguided projects, programmes and on a bloated government.”
“As they tighten the noose on the helpless citizenry by piling on more taxes and expropriating our money through measures like the domestic debt exchange, government offers no semblance of genuine sacrifice on its part.
“The national decay of the last six years has not been limited to the economy. It extends to all aspects of our lives,” he added.
Despite the taunting task, he declared “I am set and ready! Very ready, to Build The Ghana We Want Together with you. Our mission is to get out of the current nightmare. And to get out of it together, reaching to one another, listening to one another, providing hope for all. Working with a pool of experienced, talented, and passionate men and women, and with many others from non-political backgrounds including the private sector and civil society who simply want the best for Ghana and who desire to transform our country and its people, it can and will be done.”
He told his audience “this is no time for experimentation. Ghana at this time does not need a ‘try me too’ leader.”
He thinks Ghana desperately needs a leader who isn’t enraptured with sloganeering, excessive politics, personal comfort, or shallow populism but who is unwaveringly committed to getting things done in a no-frills, no-fun, businesslike way.
According to Mr. Mahama, the next president of Ghana should have good judgment and the ability to make the correct decisions at the appropriate times.
A leader who takes ownership of the situation, works to resolve the issue, and does not place culpability elsewhere.
The leader, according to him, should have a compassionate heart and the modesty to relate to and comprehend the requirements of the people he leads.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
