<<Print>>

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2016 running mate to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag bearer, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has described claims of Ghana’s economic transformation by President Mahama as a “propaganda transformation” which cannot be felt by the people.
 
He alleged that the transformation by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) could only be felt in the pockets of only a few government officials “who have benefited from corrupt activities such as SADA, Woyome, GYEDA and “Ford Expedition from Burkina Faso”.

Dr Bawumia made these remarks   when he addressed party supporters at the campaign launch of the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Nhyiaeso Constituency, Mr Kennedy Kankam, at Patase 7, Kumasi, at the weekend and called on the people to vote massively for Nana Akufo-Addo and Mr Kankam for a better transformation of the economy.

Justifying his allegation, he said President J. A. Kufuor took over a tattered economy from the NDC in 2001 and, through prudent and well thought-out economic policies, managed to bring out the country from a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) to a flourishing economy.

He stated that unfortunately, the Mills-Mahama administration took over the economy and destroyed it again, leading to excruciating hardship for the people and the destruction of businesses and unemployment capped with “Evidence-based Dumsor for five years”.

Economy

Dr Bawumia noted that the NPP took over a GDP growth of 3.7 per cent in 2000 and, without oil, moved it to 9.1 per cent in 2008, but surprisingly the NDC was given the mandate to govern and oil revenue was added but “the GDP has dwindled to 3.2 per cent in eight years.

He said the GDP in 2000 was $440 which grew to $1,266 in eight years, while the NDC, with oil and other loans, had added only $74.

He added that in 2008 the interest rate on loans was 25 per cent, with banks chasing customers at home to go for loans, but to the amazement of all, the NDC, within eight years, had supervised the deterioration from 25 per cent to a whopping 35 per cent, culminating in the inability of businesses to take loans and expand.

He said those hardships had led to unemployment figures shooting up to 48 per cent, while a dollar, which was exchanged for GH¢1.1 in 2008, had now shot up to $1 to almost GH¢4.

Touching on the national debt, Dr Bawumia, who once served as a Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, said when the NPP handed power over to the NDC in 2008, the national debt  stood at  GH¢9.4 billion but the NDC had used just eight years to send it to a whopping GH¢105 billion.

That, he explained, had also increased interests on such loans from GH¢680 million per annum to the current GH¢1.5 billion.

Social

Dr Bawumia said after five consecutive years of power shedding (known as Dumsor in the local parlance), the government had increased electricity bills to the extent that monthly bills were higher than the monthly rents on accommodation.

He said the hardship brought about by the mismanagement of the economy had led to hikes in unemployment and other negative indicators which had made life unbearable for the majority of the people.

Credibility

He asserted that the NDC under President Mahama was not credible as far as the management of the economy was concerned, and that the propaganda economy they had run had led to investors snubbing Ghana in the international market when the country went to look for 4.1 billion in the Eurobond market.

Mr Kankam also urged the people to come out in their numbers and vote massively for him and Nana Akufo-Addo to ensure that the good policies run by the Kufuor Administration would be replicated under Nana Akufo-Addo.