Thank you, my man, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia . You did meet my colleagues, and you reported you shared your vision for Ghana, which to you ultimately should be anchored on your favourite digitalisation agenda. Great stuff !
In fact, the truth is that the digitalisation drive is similar to the NDC’s 24-hour economy mantra. They are both aspirational and that, given the right enabling economic environment, they will naturally occur.
Which is why l keep calling on you, my dear Veep, to deal at least in part with the economic plunder and invasive poor governance that we have experienced under your administration. Do you have to wait to be president before you unburden us with e-levy, covid-19 levies escalating exchange rate and all the mouth- watering reliefs you promising many who continue to be tortured economically?
The most painful parts are the draconian debt exchange programme and financial haircuts given to many, and that led to the premature deaths of hundreds of defenceless old and frail pensioners and senior citizens.
This is the only reason why l keep asking you to respond to my request to own up to the economic metrics you cleverly introduced into our political campaigns as indicators of how well an economy was doing. They all have departed from normality, with the exchange rate almost $1= 17 cedis, 24% inflation, 40 wicked taxes, nearly 35% interest rates, a staggering debt iceberg as never experienced in our history, attempted price controls on essential items, unnecessary levies and flagrant abuse of procurement processes for private gains in multimillion dollars.
Again, this is important you man up and speak about the economy because some leading members of the NPP are misleading their followers. One highly respected friend recently asked, ” Are you aware that from 2013 to the end of 2016 alone, the economy, under JM, contracted by $9 billion? In fact, from $64.8bn in 2013, it dropped to $56bn in 2016. He continued, since the NPP took over in 2017, are you aware that the economy has grown by over $20bn to $76.3bn?”
Respectfully, the numbers in the above quote are not correct. The $76.3 billion GDP he quoted can only be obtained by using an awam exchange rate. Using 16 GHS to 1 USD as the exchange rate and accepting that GDP number as correct would mean that Ghana’s GDP today is 1.22 trillion GHS. That’s not true. Ghana’s GDP is just about a trillion. And so, in dollar terms, Ghana’s GDP is just about $63 billion. In per capita terms, that is about $1840. Which is lower than in 2013. So, effectively, from the point of view of the ordinary citizen, the economy has indeed shrunk under the NPP.
Finally, Dr. Bawumia, you said “I am a problem solver by nature. What advanced countries have done, we can do even better” –
Yes, you can, but you must be willing to ensure the foundation upon which you can solve the problems must be solid, very solid, unlike the men you once touted as solid. Time revealed they were simply economically impotent. See you shortly, doc .
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