The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is sounding the alarm bells and warning Ghanaians to be wary of whatever former President John Dramani Mahama is doing and saying because it is for his personal gains.
NPP said it does not believe the former President’s actions are about the people of Ghana because his pronouncements do not have any future plan for Ghana.
Speaking at a news conference to respond to the ‘Thank Ghana’ address by flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2020 election, NPP Director of Communications, Yaw Buaben Asamoa argued Mr. Mahama’s track record in governance shows he is unable to help Ghana progress.
According to him, any would-be political leader that refuses to recognise the true depth of social and economic stress imposed by COVID-19 is out to take power for his own purposes and not for Ghana.
“The most powerful democracy on earth, the United States of America, has had to spend trillions of dollars in deficit financing of public infrastructure to kick start employment and pay direct cash subsidies to victims of Covid-19 amid job losses in the millions.
“They have a publicly funded programme to administer Covid-19 jabs to over 300 million people. We in Ghana, by virtue of our weak position in the world of international finance, do not have the luxury of deficit financing our way out of our economic difficulties.
“Our Government is obliged to finance roads, energy, water, sanitation, ICT connectivity, education, health and salaries and support job creation from a weak tax base, expensive loans and inadequate concessional grants”, Mr Asamoa added.
He argued that the NPP has articulated a vision of ‘Ghana beyond Aid’, and through innovative measures, is expanding the tax base, cleaning up revenue leakages, tightening expenditure controls and diversifying economic activity into value addition for international competitiveness.
“We have a plan. We have a road map and we are implementing it,” he added.
Default mandate
Former President Mahama, he said, is seeking the NDC’s mandate to lead again after his default ascension to power following the demise of Professor Atta Mills during which he delivered a critical policy action paper in September 2012 and decried all the ills of Ghana without any workable solutions.
“Then he bulldozed his way to the nomination in 2012, winning an election that was disputed in the Supreme Court for eight months.
“As President, he took the nomination in 2016 without challenge, going on to lose the 2016 elections with a record margin for an incumbent. His own party review blamed him for the loss, citing a rising culture of moneycracy, waning political ideology leading to ethnocentrism, neglect of social-democratic focus in policymaking, alienation from voters and poor messaging that did not resonate with the worsening living conditions of the people.”
No credible idea
Mr Buaben Asamoa questioned whether the NDC under former President Mahama has presented any credible political ideas and a social and economic programme capable of moving Ghana beyond the present and into a future of wealth creation?
John Mahama and the NDC, he stressed, are yet to deliver one socially sensitive policy for the benefit of Ghanaians to justify their tag of social democracy.
