Former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor has taken the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, to task on current economic crises questioning the whereabouts of their much-touted solid economic management team.
He quizzed “They said they have the men, where are the men? The economy is in bad shape. Our debt is hovering around Ghc600 billion. When we [NDC] come we will prove to the NPP that we have the skills. We have done it before in 2009 when we took over the economy. We achieved single-digit inflation for 31 months. We will do it again. NDC we have the people but we don’t talk too much. We will turn the economy around within two years when we come to power” Dr. Kwabena Duffuor said when addressing delegates of the opposition National Democratic Congress from Suhum and Ayensuano constituency.
Ghana is expecting to receive $3 billion dollars over three years from the International Monetary Fund to avert the collapse of the economy.
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The Country has undertaken a painful debt restructuring program yet struggling to bring down its debt portfolio.
Already, the IMF is projecting that Ghana’s Debt to GDP Ratio will increase further to 98.7 per cent by the end of 2023.
The country has defaulted on its debts.
Although, Ghana’s annual inflation rate eased for the third month to 45% in March 2023, down from 52.8% in the prior month and after reaching a more than two-decade high of 54.1% in December 2022.
However, according to Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, regardless of the state of the Economy the NDC has the strategy to turn it around to reduce the current economic hardship on Ghanaians.
“We have done it before during the late Atta Mills era we inherited a terrible economy but by the grace of God and the fact that NDC had competent people, the Economy was turned around .so be patient. Regardless of the state in which Akufo Addo will leave the economy, we will turn it around. They have borrowed all over the world, they know how to secure loans but they don’t know how to pay. Now they are begging, this is a shame. They are going round begging”.Dr. Duffuor said.
Dr Duffuor is embarking on a 4-day campaign tour in the Eastern region ahead of the NDC’s Presidential Primaries on May 13, 2023, which he is contesting together with former President John Mahama and former Mayor of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Kojo Bonsu.
Dr Duffuor has been assuring delegates of the NDC a rebirth of the party to revert power to the grassroots.
He said the grassroots has been neglected contrary to the foundation principles of the party.
The business mogul reiterated his commitment to making NDC a business-centred party with shares in major companies just like the ANC party in South Africa, providing monthly salaries to the executives of the party from regional and constituency levels, restoring the heroes fund, instituting a pension scheme for the party, build regional and constituency offices for the party.
Dr Duffuor also indicated that women in the party must be empowered to sustain progress for maximum impact on the success of the NDC.
Constituency Chairmen of the party in areas visited so far acknowledged the massive contribution of Dr Duffuor to the NDC and his enviable records on the economy of Ghana as former Finance Minister.
They assured that delegates will not forget his contributions on May 13, 2023.