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Akufo-Addo: “Mahama gave Ghana its worst economic performance in 30 years”

The president strikes, setting the agenda for the New Patriotic Party’s Election 2020 campaign – it’s about the economy

President Akufo-Addo has declared that during the last term in office of the National Democratic Congress President John Dramani Mahama superintended over the worst economic performance in the history of Ghana’s Fourth Republic, spanning 1992 to date.

The president was addressing the National Council of the New Patriotic Party at a ceremony at the Alisa Hotel in Accra to acclaim him as the party’s presidential candidate for 2020.

Akufo-Addo said that in the past three and a half years that he has had the privilege to lead his party in power, his government has cleared up the economic mess it inherited from the Mahama governments.

The NPP government, he said, has set Ghana on a strong path to growth and recovery.

Competent economic management

“In spite of the truly abysmal state in which we found the economy of Ghana in January 2017, we can be proud of what we have been able to achieve in the past three and a half years,” he said.

“We are not there yet; we are not where we want Ghana to be, and we are very much aware of the amount of work that remains to be done. We have demonstrated, though, beyond any shadow of doubt, our competence in the management of the national economy – since, without competence, we cannot improve on the welfare of the masses,” the president said.

 

Rebased data on the economy from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) published in April 2019 shows that GDP growth stood at 2.9% in 2014, at 2.2% in 2015 and at 3.4% in 2016. Research from the Bank of Ghana covering the period 1990 to 2018 also shows that Ghana recorded its lowest GDP growth between 2014 and 2016.

The data confirms that Ghana’s worst economic performance occurred in the period when John Dramani Mahama served as President of the Republic.

The same Bank of Ghana data shows that between 2017 and February 2020, GDP growth rose sharply from its performance in 2016. In 2017 growth achieved 8.1% and in 2018 it achieved 6.3%. Growth was roughly 7% in 2019. And in spite of the damaging effects of the novel coronavirus disease this year, the economy has remained resilient.

Hammer home the programme

“We are told that those who were responsible for the worst economic performance of the last 30 years have learned their lessons and seek another opportunity to correct their mistakes,” President Akufo-Addo told the NPP’s National Council.

“Dare I ask – should the presidency be for experiments? Surely not! You, the Ghanaian people, deserve better, and you will get better on 7 December, with four more years for Nana and the NPP to do more for you.”

NPP National Council members acclaim Nana Akufp-Addo as the party's presidemtial candidate for 2020

President Akufo-Addo further said that the NPP has to win the election to see its many projects through to their conclusion.

“We dare not leave the many factories coming up, under our 1D1F [One District, One Factory] scheme, to be truncated. We dare not leave the Free SHS to be ‘reviewed’. We dare not leave our roads to go unattended again, only to become part of Green Book propaganda. We dare not jeopardise the digitisation schedule on which we have embarked.

“I urge you, therefore, my dear friends and colleagues, to go out with the confidence that comes from your government performing well, and running the affairs of the country competently,” President Akufo-Addo said. “Tell our story to the Ghanaian people, and tell it often.”

Wilberforce Asare

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