Ghana's Economy Is On Auto Pilot - Abu Jinapor

An aide to Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Samuel Abu Jinapor has accused the Mills�-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of placing the country�s economy on auto pilot.

According to Abu Jinapor, in spite of the flowing adjectives by economists regarding the country�s economy, there is too much governance of symbolism rather than substance and instead of purposeful action, �the economy is on auto pilot�.

He was commenting on the reports that Ghana is reputed to have one of the fastest growing economies.

Ghana�s economy grew by 20.15% in the first half of this year according to Economy Watch. Economy Watch tracks economic statistics including GDP growth rates across the world from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This year, Ghana�s nominal growth in the first half put it ahead of many several emerging economies, including China, Qatar, India, Angola and many others.

But speaking as a panelist on Radio Gold�s Alhaji and Alhaji current affairs programme, Abu Jinapor pointed out that a lot of factors contributed to this phenomenon not excluding achievements by the erstwhile Kufuor administration as well as revenues accrued from the oil industry.

He, however, thinks that there is a huge gulf between Kufuor�s administration and that of President Mills.

��if you look at the NPP�s reign in 2001; three years down the line when the NPP administration took over the governance of this country in 2001 and 3 years down the line since President Mills took over the reins of government, if you do a careful analysis of where President Kufuor (former) took over and where President Mills took over, almost all the indices will tell you clearly that the improvement and the success we chalked under President Kufuor�s three years is far far more commendable than what we have chalked in this current administration�� Abu Jinapor said.

According to him, all factors indicate that the country is retrogressing under the Mills� administration, and maintained that even with programs such as the �School Feeding Programme� and the �Single Spine Salary Structure�, the NDC has not been able to place the economy of Ghana on a higher pedestal.

�If you want any evidence that our economy is on auto pilot�indeed we do not have any solutions to the challenges of our time�we are told that inflation is coming down yet prizes of things keeps going up and up�I will just say that we have enough of this propaganda in the last few years; enough of governance of symbolism rather than substance, rather than purposeful action� the economy is on auto pilot and that is a fact�� he added.

Source: Rebecca Quaye/Peacefmonline.com