NDC is most poorly performed government in Ghana’s history – Bawumia

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) running mate for the 2016 elections, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) despite having more resources than any government ever in the history of Ghana has performed poorly.

Speaking at a public lecture in Accra titled: ‘The State of the Ghanaian Economy – A Foundation of Concrete or Straw,” chaired by Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Dr Bawumia said the data on Ghana’s economy shows that the years under President John Mahama have been worse than any period since the dawn of this century.

He said almost every single economic indicator proves that while the eight years under the NPP from 2001 to 2008 were better than these last eight years under the NDC, the NDC first four years under late President Mills was even far better than these last four years under John Mahama.

According to Dr Bawumia: “Under the eight years of the NPP government, from 2001-2008, taxes and loans amounted to GH¢ 20 billion. In contrast, taxes, oil revenue, and loans alone over the eight-year period of 2009-2016 would amount to some GH¢ 248billion.

“The Mills-Mahama governments would have had in eight years, more than 12 times the nominal resources that the NPP had.”

In terms of GDP Growth, Dr Bawumia noted that without oil, the NPP competently managed the economy to increase growth from 3.7 per cent in 2000 to 9.1 per cent in 2008 while with oil and unprecedented resources; economic growth had declined to 3.9 per cent in 2015.

“Between December 2000 and December 2008, without oil, economic growth increased from 3.7 per cent to 9.1 per cent. After declining to 4.8 per cent in 2009, real GDP growth increased to 7.7 per cent in 2010 and 14 per cent in 2011 following the onset of oil production.

“Since 2011 however, real GDP growth has declined steadily and drastically to 3.9 per cent in 2015, basically the growth rate Ghana attained in the year 2000.

“Between 2000 and 2008, the size of Ghana’s economy increased from some $5.1 billion to $28.5 billion, a 459 per cent increase in eight years,” he said.

He said even in the face of a global economic and financial crisis in 2007/8 (with oil prices reaching a record high of $147/barrel), economic growth in 2008 rose to 9.1 per cent.

Ghana’s GDP, notwithstanding the discovery of oil, has only increased from $28.5 billion in 2008 to a projected $40 billion in 2016 (a 40 per cent increase in eight years).

However, from 2012 – 2016 i.e. during John Mahama’s tenure as President, the economy, in dollar terms, shrunk by five per cent”.

Dr Bawumia reiterated that in terms of economic performance, the NDC government had been the worst and noted that it was time for change to salvage Ghana and its economy.

“The fact is that the worst period of economic performance since 2001 has been under President Mahama’s stewardship from 2012 – 2016.

“The truth is that the foundation was already laid by the Kufuor government.

“President Mahama has spent the last eight years destroying this foundation; replacing it rather with a weak foundation of straw, which he desperately tries to portray as one of concrete.

“A mason who inherits a good foundation and spends eight years destroying it cannot be trusted to build the house. We need a competent mason, one with integrity, credibility and vision to build the house,’’ he said.

Source: GNA