‘Clueless’ Akufo-Addo has ruined Ghana’s economy – Asiedu Nketiah

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, says Akufo-Addo’s tenure has been characterised by hopelessness, corruption and leadership paralysis.

Delivering what the NDC described as the ‘True State of the Nation Address’, Mr Asiedu Nketia said every sector under President Akufo-Addo has declined leading to a high cost of living and punitive economic woes.

He added that claims by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that he knew how to revive the economy and not dead people was all political talk.

In his opinion, the President has failed in all indications of restoring the country’s economy and therefore cannot claim to know how to revive the economy.

He also accused the NPP of deceiving Ghanaians that a chunk of the funds the government has borrowed was injected into the construction of roads. According to the Chairman of the NDC, only 1.6 percent of over GH¢820 billion have been used for the construction of roads in the country.

“Despite being the luckiest and most resourced government in Ghana’s history, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government has the least to show in terms of socio-economic development. This is because the NPP has used all your money mainly for consumption. This is contrary to the President’s claim that his government has used “a large amount of the money we borrowed on road construction.”

“The President knows he deliberately misled Ghanaians with this claim because he is aware that only a minute amount of the overall resource envelope that has accrued to his government since 2017 has been used for the construction and rehabilitation of roads in the country.

“The truth is that only an abysmal 1.6% of the total resource envelope of GH¢820 billion has been spent on roads by this government. Official Government of Ghana records show that a whopping 93% of the GHS 820 billion has been spent on consumption, including Akufo-Addo’s 20,000 Euros an hour luxurious private jet travels across the world, hired over several months at huge cost to the taxpayer.

He also accused the Akufo-Addo government of wasting over GH¢30 billion of Covid-19 funds on election-related expenses.

“Covid-19 brought the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government a windfall of about GH¢30bn to manage and mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Unfortunately, this was wasted in election-related expenses,” he said.

He added the President Akufo-Addo-led government has plunged the country’s economy into a ditch due to reckless spending and mismanagement.