The chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has said that President Akufo-Addo’s words cannot be trusted anymore because he has proved to be dishonest in his dealings with Ghanaians.
Speaking at an event dubbed, “The True State of the Nation” on Monday, Mr. Nketia stated that everything the President has said and promised during his tenure has turned out to be a “scam”.
“During this crisis, nothing the President says can be believed because everything he has said has proven to be untrue. Ghanaians have come to realise that the claim by the President that he knew how to revive a dead economy was a scam. ‘We are a proud nation, we are not going to the IMF’ was a scam and there will be no haircut was a scam,” Mr Nketia said.
The NDC used the event to tell Ghanaians about the state of Ghana’s economy from its perspective.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia noted that President Akufo-Addo has also failed to deliver on his ‘Agenda 111’ promise to build hospitals across the country.
Mr Nketia added that “the promise to abolish road toll was a scam. The promise to convert toll booths to modern public toilets was a scam, the claim that there was a global shortage of childhood vaccines was a scam, and no state funds will finance the national cathedral was a scam.”
He stated that the government has run down the economy but is blaming the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors.
Mr Nketia noted that the pandemic is far from being the cause of Ghana’s economic woes. He explained that Covid-19 brought the country “an unprecedented windfall” of about GH₵30 billion.
The money, he said, was meant to manage and mitigate the impact of the pandemic, but the government “wasted” it on election-related expenses.
“This amount excludes proceeds from the obnoxious Covid levy which Ghanaians continue to pay to date. According to the Auditor-General, only 11.7% of this amount was spent on Covid-19 with a remainder of about GH₵18 billion being channeled into so-called budget support.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic affected all countries in the world, including our next-door neighbours. Whereas these countries managed their resources prudently, thereby recording a deficit below 8% and a debt to GDP ratio below 65%, this government borrowed excessively and spent recklessly for election purposes. Thereby, recording a disastrous deficit of 15.7% and debt to GDP ratio of about 80% in 2020.”
Mr Nketia stated that with these and many more, Ghanaians cannot put their trust in the government.
“The last thing that is required in times of crisis, is a leader whose words ring hollow and who cannot be trusted,” he said.
