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Former President John Dramani Mahama
• John Mahama says economy is in tatters and needs urgent intervention
• He foresees that the government will go to the IMF for a program
• He claims his suggestions were rejected by the government
Former President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo heads a government where the views of people other than members of his party are not taken into account in decision-making.
John Mahama fears that his successor does not seem to find his perspective on managing the economy worthy of consideration.
John Mahama, who claims the economy is struggling, cited a proposal for a 2021 edition of the Senchi conference that took place under his tenure as a way to bring experts and stakeholders together under one roof to find ways to turn around the economy.
The former president who is on a thank-you tour of the country revealed in a radio interview that he had tried to bring President Akufo-Addo’s attention to certain interventions or decisions which, in his wisdom, will help shape the economy, but the president has yet to accept any of them.
“It is obvious to see that things are not the best: the economy is in crisis and this is not the first time that I say that the economy is in crisis. I gave him my suggestions [Akufo-Addo] and it doesn’t seem like he’s interested in taking them.
“On my Facebook I posted that there was a time when we had an economic crisis and struggles in terms of budget funding and all kinds of things, so we had to come out with a house fiscal policy.
“What did we do? We went to Senchi and we called all the stakeholders and we had a consensus on the local tax policy. This is the policy that we finally put in place in an IMF program. to start making a difference.
“So I suggested that he [Akufo-Addo] is hosting a Senchi-type forum so that we can build consensus on how the economy will grow, but it doesn’t seem like it’s something they are interested in, but the economy is definitely in crisis, it’s obvious to everyone the world, ”Mr. Mahama said.
John Dramani Mahama dived cleanly into the financial sector and criticized the government for the way it handled the problem.
He noted that “companies are complaining, especially after the cleaning of the banking sector,” noting: “It has wiped out Ghanaian capital.
“That’s the point and so far the president had promised that they would pay everyone and there are a lot of people who haven’t received their deposits who have been wiped out by the cleaning up of the banking sector.” , noted Mahama.
He said: “Apart from that, the public debt, almost twenty and a few billion dollars that was imposed on us, as part of the public debt, affected the economy and also the gifts during the elections – water. free, free light – the finance minister came and said they spent $ 19 billion on COVID aid; it’s huge, and so the debt has to be paid somehow. That’s how they introduced the new taxes and all that.
Mr. Mahama noted that “with the evolution of the economy, something must give way”, adding that he “will not be surprised if this administration ends up engaging in some kind of program with the IMF”.
“It’s easy for everyone to see that the economy was in crisis before COVID-19 hit,” he said.
“In 2019, it was obvious that the borrowing rate was excessive and that things were not going well. COVID has only exacerbated it but already, the management of the economy was in crisis long before the arrival of COVID, “he said.
“Even in our traditional homes, you borrow money for something productive, something tangible. You borrow money to build a house or re-roof your house or buy a bicycle so that you can cycle to the farm; especially something that gives a return on investment. [With] school buildings, children can learn and get more educated people who will be a good human resource for the country, ”he stressed.
“If it is health care, you will keep your citizens healthy and they will be able to work. If it’s roads, you can make it easier for people and goods to move across the country. If it is airports, you are able to facilitate local and international travel. There is so much that you borrow to put in place so that it improves the productivity of your country and improves the growth of your country.
Mr. Mahama explained that when he was president, “you could look at our borrowing profile and you could see that it was two main things: ie infrastructure to provide more roads. , hospitals, schools, expanding our ports, etc. and also in what we call the removal of the high interest debt that we have inherited. “
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