Spokesperson to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has slammed President John Dramani Mahama for peddling untruths about the amounts in the ‘Sinking Fund.’
Presenting a message on the state of the nation to Parliament yesterday, President Mahama claimed the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not leave enough buffers to honour coupon payment to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bondholders.
“While there have been claims that buffers were left for debt repayment, the statement of accounts for the Debt Service Reserve Account, also known as the Sinking Fund, shows a balance of only $64,000 and GHS143 million in the dollar and Ghana cedi accounts, respectively,” President Mahama told Parliament.
The President’s claim was apparently meant to justify his administration’s struggles in managing the economy after promising better living conditions for all Ghanaians.
However, reacting to these claims, the spokesperson to the former vice President, Dr. Gideon Boako did not hold back, calling out Mahama’s dishonesty.
“President Mahama cleverly refused to mention the date for the balance he was referring to. They are using the August 2024 balance while ignoring the additional build-ups that took place before they assumed office,” he stated.
Dr. Boako who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North challenged the president to publish the account records instead of misleading the public and also “top the peddling of falsehoods.”
“I challenged them weeks ago to publish the balance in the accounts as at 6th January 2025.
“They are only using the balance in the accounts as at the last time the NPP government made the third payments to the domestic bondholders, which is August 2024. They refuse to tell us that there were build ups into the accounts between August 2024 and January 2025,” Dr. Boako stated.
Setting the records straight, Dr. Boako gave account of what the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government left as buffers for the DDEP payments.
“For the purposes of emphasis let me repeat portions of my February 19th post challenging the government on the false information on the sinking fund.
“We had auction excess on 3rd Jan – over GH¢700 million in the fund, which was not spent.
“We left GH¢3 billion of end of year revenue also as buffer plus many more unspent funds in various accounts,” he pointed out.
Dr. Boako acknowledged that the current Mahama government also added something as it got auction “excesses, too, but to say that there were no significant buffers cannot be true.”
Dr. Boako called for enhancement of Ghana’s democratic governance devoid of misinformation and untruths.
“Let’s approach governance from the standpoint of truth and avoid petty lies,” Dr. Boako added.
Mahama’s track record of lies
According to Dr. Boako, this is not the first time President Mahama has been caught misleading the public on key economic matters.
“His track record during his previous administration was marred by economic incompetence, record inflation, a collapsed cedi, and reckless borrowing that led Ghana into an IMF bailout in 2015.
“Instead of taking responsibility for his failures, Mahama has resorted to fabricating economic figures in an attempt to blame the NPP government for his own lack of vision and poor leadership,” he added.
Dr. Boako questioned why the Mahama-led administration is reluctant to publish the actual Sinking Fund balance as of January 6, 2025, if they truly believe their claims.
The Truth About Ghana’s Economic Situation
Dr. Boako noted that while President Mahama continues to cry wolf over the country’s financial reserves, the reality is that his administration is struggling due to its own incompetence. Ghanaians must demand accountability and reject the lies being fed to them.
The NPP government, he stressed, left a solid financial foundation, including:
• A structured debt repayment plan with buffers in the Sinking Fund.
• A resilient economy showing signs of recovery despite global challenges.
• Proper fiscal management that prevented excessive deficits.
“Instead of building on these gains, Mahama and his team have turned to propaganda and blame games, hoping to escape scrutiny for their own failings,” Dr. Boako reiterated.
