The Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Abass Apaak has expressed disappointment in the Akufo-Addo administration over the current management of the country’s economy.
The academic indicated that Ghana is in despair after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government took over the government some five years ago despite the numerous promises to Ghanaians that an Akufo-Addo government would transform Ghana through better policies.
“The country’s economy is bad; President Akufo-Addo knows, Bawumia knows, Ken Ofori-Atta knows it is bad, Parliament knows it is bad and I, Apaak, know it is bad. Ghana is broke,” Apaak said in an interview with Prince Minkah on Tonton Sansan on TV XYZ Thursday.
The vociferous legislator who expressed a hopeless situation for the country argued that the NPP government has been ruling with massaged economic figures which are in sharp contrast with the reality Ghanaians face on daily basis.
He said youth unemployment was heightening although while the Akufo-Addo administration invest in getting communicators to deceive Ghanaians whenever there are calls for the government to secure decent jobs for the teeming youth.
Hardship
The past weeks have been tough for the NPP government that won with a slim majority in parliament in the 2020 polls over the increasing cost of living stemming from tax increment and incessant fuel hikes in the West African country.
A consumer advocacy CSO, the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana, (COPEC), has predicted fuel prices will go up before the year ends despite the commodity price increased at least seventeen times in the past ten months.
The situation has angered about sixteen public driver groups who have vowed to ground their vehicles in the national capital, Accra when the taxes on fuel is not reduced by the end of next week.
Some Ghanaians who have been speaking to Power FM news believe commodity prices have gone up basically before the government is not intervening to put in measures that will make fuel prices drop.
Mahama’s Concerns
Wrapping up the last lap of his ‘thank you tour’ in the Greater Accra region, former president John Mahama indicated that the current government has done little to make life comfortable for Ghanaians, having benefitted from unprecedented oil revenue and taxes.
He believes the government under President Akufo-Addo is disrespecting the very people who had confidence in him and voted him to power because he has failed to tackle the challenges of the people.
Speaking in an interview on TV XYZ Tuesday, Mr. Mahama stated that he discovered the hopelessness after touring the country to thank Ghanaians for their votes in the 2020 election.
“We’re in a state of despair; people are sad, people have regretted because this is not what the government promised them,” he told Tonton Sansan host Prince Minkah.
“Before the elections, they did a lot of things, i.e., free water, free light, free this and they spent GHS11.9 billion of the COVID funds from March to December and a lot went into convincing people…They gave small business loans via MoMo of about GHS2,000 but today, we are all paying that back,” he stated.
He also projected that there could be the imposition of more taxes after the 2022 budget is read in Parliament next week, but hastened that the citizens should be hopeful that things would change when his party– the NDC wins power in 2024.
Reacting to that, Apaak stated, “John Mahama loves Ghana that is why he had to give Ghanaians hope. If I were the one who delivered that speech, I would have said worse and everyone would have been shocked by now.”
Everything he said is true. This government pledged not to borrow and venture into more production to develop Ghana but after meeting a public debt of about 120 billion they have borrowed so much. As of presenting the midyear budget, we were told that the public debt hovers around 334 billion.”
He rubbished claims that the government was on the path of an industrialization drive that will transform the economy, saying the government has helped some few businesses and claiming ownership of them and tagging them as under their one district, one factory initiative.
“How many factories have they built to help create jobs and stabilize the economy ?” he quizzed in Akan.
Source: Myxyzonline.com
