PRESIDENT MAHAMA MANAGED GHANA’S ECONOMY VERY WELL THAN PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO – Dr Franklin Osei Akoto

At the time I was criticising President John Mahama, I had no regrets criticising him,like I have no regrets no criticising the Akufo Addo administration, but I want to say emphatically that if you carry out comparative analysis between the Mahama administration and Akufo Addo’s administration, I would say President Mahama is far far mileage above this present administration.

There was never a time that President Mahama attacked credibility (CSOs) for criticising his policies. This government is deaf and dumb and not pro-people as the President and his people claim. There is a government in government, a cartel that has completely hijacked this government. And a situation whereby the President often times just come out to say he doesn’t even know what’s happening around him (I’m not aware), calls for serious concern.

There are lot of square pegs in round holes. This particular government has no agenda. We cannot continue like that. The President and his appointees must be sincere with the people who lined up in the sun on the 7th of December 2016 and voted them into office and the people including our intellectuals, pastors and traditional leaders must have the temerity and audacity to also hold the government accountable. It is a fact that the Mahama administration outperformed the Akufo Administration in every sphere of governance and in every aspect of the human development index assessing the two administration based on their two years performance.

While former President John Mahama can point to over 10,000 major projects that he initiated, started and completed, I challenge the Akufo Addo government to name just 20 projects that it has initiated, started and completed in the last two years from the over Ghc 50 billion borrowed. So by what logic can the President say that his administration has outperformed the Mahama administration that initiated, started and completed over 40 new secondary schools and over 100 at various stages of completion as well as new University campuses, teaching hospitals, upgraded the polytechnics. The Ridge Hospital, the Nkrumah and Kasoa interchange(s).

How can the President say his administration, under which Ghana suffered her worst retrogression in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, outperformed a government under which Ghana made her best ever improvement in CPI.
According to statistics available, over 1 million Ghanaians had lost their jobs in the last 24 months. Companies are laying off workers because of low production and sale, about 7 banks have collapsed, Thousands of qualified nurses have still not been employed by government. How can an administration with such an abysmal job record claim to have outperformed Mahama administration that created jobs through through the concepts it introduced.

Under the Mahama administration, Ghana was rated by the world bank and other credible institutions as the most attractive business environment in west Africa and become the magnet for investment. Ghana was rated the number one destination for foreign direct investment in West Africa as rated by the Geneva based United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Today , Ghana under Akufo Addo, the man we projected in 2016, Ghana is not even among the top 15 Africa.

If President Akufo Ad do is saying that by borrowing more money in two years than the Mahama administration (their first two years), it has outperformed the Mahama administration, then I am will to concede that fact.

But to say that an administration that has not added a megawatt of power to what it inherited but exporting power has outperformed an administration that added over 4000 megawatts of power and fixed permanently the perennial power problem is to be economical with the truth.

So widely known was the governance of Ghana under Mahama administration that Prime Minister Cameron said :
“With you at the helm, Ghana continues to exhibit strong leadership in democratic governance in the West African region.  I also welcome your commitment to transparency in governance by revising the Ghana Criminal Offences Act to redefine corruption to include the more expansive definition covered in the ‘UN Convention Against Corruption and the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption’,” 

He also extended a special invitation to President Mahama to attend the G-8 summit. “President Mahama’s “personal commitment and leadership will help encourage other countries to appreciate why this agenda is so critical for current and future generations”.

Sadly, the last two years has only shown that the Akufo Addo promised Ghanaians heaven on earth, but has literally turned Ghana to hell on earth such that a nation that was rated by Gallup polls as the happiest nation in West Africa under Mahama has dropped to according to latest UN report. The man we all trusted and worked for has disappointed us. Life is unbearable, hardship, suffering, hunger, poverty everywhere. I listened to my brother Prempeh on Newfile and was so happy for my mother land. His submission is the best I’ve consumed in recent times. He displayed intellectual authority and patriotic spirit. We need more of such voices to challenge the establishment. I fully supported the fight against corruption in the Mahama administration. I spoke extensively on it on our local and foreign media platforms. I wrote series of articles on the issue and joined the the change agenda.

Ghanaians have seen the capacity of both parties now, I hope they won’t get it wrong again in 2020. The future of this country is in our hands. This is not the Kufour Npp we worked for and proudly defended. I am herein calling on Ghanaian youth to take interest in political participation in order to rescue the country from poor governance. Ghana may not be at par in the comity of nations in terms of development if the young generation were neglected to the background. If our respected graduates are forced to walk over their own certificates

Mahama did not inherit the fortunes Nana inherited and that important point must be explained to the people by our intellectuals. None of our governments inherited this fortune. High oil revenue, high prices for our experts including cocoa and gold, stabilization levy, stable power and exporting power, more schools and roads built, Exim Bank Ghana etc. These critical issues must explained to the people to help them do proper performance assessment of the various governments.