The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has charged its rank and file to rise and mobilise behind the Akufo-Addo government to defeat the onslaught of vile propaganda being churned out by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
NDC, the governing party stressed, has been spreading misinformation, particularly on Ghana’s economy as part of its usual repetition of deceit, ostensibly to win the hearts of Ghanaians ahead of the 2024 general election.
Addressing the media in Accra yesterday in response to NDC’s “True State of the Nation Address”, NPP National Chairman Mr. Stephen Ayensu Ntim, said what the NDC national chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah recently presented was just a deceitful chorus and nothing serious to address the current challenges facing the country.
He has therefore called on NPP supporters from polling stations upwards to become canvassers and communicators to help disabuse the minds of Ghanaians from the misinformation that the NDC is feeding the nation with.
“The NDC hopes that by consistently propagating this blatant misinformation, it will get enough Ghanaians to come to believe it. I am concerned about this deliberate misinformation campaign by the NDC to deny the impact of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War on Ghana’s economy.
“This is because, over time, by hearing this lie repeatedly, it begins to resemble the truth for the consumption or acceptance of the general public,” he said.
Chairman Ntim challenged the NDC to be honest and upfront with Ghanaians for once because it has the sacred responsibility to do so on all matters and at all times.
The largest opposition party, he reiterated, must desist from the habit and strategy of deceit in its quest for power as such methods are short term but with long term ramifications for the country’s democracy, public confidence and the global perception.
Records on economy
Responding to claims of poor economic performance, Chairman Ntim said the NPP has superior records on the economy than the NDC.
According to him, a comparison of the performance of these two political parties in government between 2013 and 2019 demonstrates the NPP out-matched the NDC in its first three years in government before the nation was hit by COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukraine war.
“Before Covid-19 and the Russia- Ukraine War, the NPP government recorded an impressive 7 percent average GDP growth for three fiscal years (2017-2019). Had Covid-19 not happened, Ghana’s economy would have continued to grow into 2020, and the story of Ghana’s economy today would not be one of hardship but of growth and prosperity.
“The NDC-Mahama administration performed poorly and between 2013 and 2016, the NDC returned a mournful 3.9 percent average growth. GDP declined consistently over that period (2013-2016).
“Somehow, those who could not manage Ghana’s economy in a relatively stable global economic environment suddenly claim they have magic wand to turn the fortunes of Ghana around in this volatile global economy”, Chairman Ntim pointed out.
He indicated that when the NPP took over office in 2017, it turned around the mismanaged and collapsed economy inherited from the NDC.
NPP government, he announced, grew the industrial sector from 4.3% in 2016 to 15.6% in 2017, while the Services Sector increased from 2.8% in 2016 to 6.2% in 2917.
According to him, the abysmal performance of the NDC in the real sector was against the booming economy it inherited from the Kufuor-led NPP administration that gifted the party oil discovery in commercial quantities.
“After inheriting a booming economy, Ex-President Mahama and NDC left their successor, President Nana Addo, a collapsed economy in 2016. Ladies and gentlemen, sɛ wei nyɛ abrɔ a, na ɛyɛ deɛn,” he quizzed?
Cedi depreciation
The NPP National Chairman said the governing party also managed the local currency better than the NDC.
“We managed the Cedi better before the pandemic and the War. The NPP managed the Cedi, with an average depreciation of 6.8% from 2017 to 2021, compared to the NDC’s record of 18% average depreciation from 2013 to 2016.”
Chairman Ntim said the NPP government is not particularly happy about the level of inflation today as it has affected the economy badly, but stressed that it is a global problem.
Ghana’s economy, he argued, was the toast of the world until COVID-19 and that before 2020 Ghana was hailed among the fastest growing economies in the world.
Chairman Ntim pointed out that COVID-19 disrupted the growth momentum of the economy, which was later compounded by the Russia-Ukraine war.
He stressed that as a result of these factors Ghana’s economy, which was among the fastest-growing economies in the world, started to decelerate in 2020.
Chairman Ntim emphasised that the ravaging impact of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War on the global economy are visible all around but somehow, the NDC has refused to acknowledge or admit this fact to continue misinforming Ghanaians that the NPP government has mismanaged the economy.
The NDC’s press conference, he said, was merely a repetition of the party’s denial of the impact of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War on the economy.
