A FEW TAKES FROM JOHN MAHAMA’S PRESENTATION - GHANA AT A CROSSROAD
1. A government that is bereft of ideas has resulted to incarceration of critical voices
2. Politicisation of independent state institutions and the dismissal of those who dared to ensure what is right
3. Promise to move Ghana from taxation to production, and this has not been achieved
4. Taken to blatant lies on rising prices of goods and services
5. Blatant refusal to admit facts
6. Nation characterised by unsustained public debt resulting from high debt servicing
7. Our country is on the verge of bankruptcy
8. Contrary to the promises of this government, they have tripled our debt to GDP
9. Debt servicing rose from 10 billion in 2016 to almost 50 billion as we speak
10. Our debt accumulation is not in anyway in line with the investment in capital expenditure
11. A ballooning local debt on the books of government
12. Ghana’s liability to local businesses exceed 30 billion Cedis
13. Government is unable to meets if spending obligations due to lack of fiscal space
14. Only 6% of the budget for 2021 was released to the National Health Insurance Authority
15. The government has squandered its way into a ditch from the successes it inherited in 2017.
16. Now we know that responsibility and prudence is not something that is appreciated by this government
17. No textbooks for basic schools for 3 years
18. Capitation has been in arrears for nearly a year
19. Irregular supply of essential services to Senior High Schools
20. Colleges of education students have been at home more than they have been at school
21. The mismanagement of the GETFUND has not led to the needed progress in the education sector
22. Statutory payments are in arrears for months
23. Reckless collateralization of certain strategic funds
24. Collateralised ESLA until 2035
25. They are ready to collateralise the proceeds from the E-Levy
26. The President couldn’t tell the Labour Unions that part of the taxes on petroleum products cannot be removed because the proceeds were collateralised, some up to 2035
27. The Agyapa deal is only an action of Agyabone and not Agyapa
28. Ghana has been shut out from the Bonds market until there is some improvement in our economic situation
29. The depreciation of the Cedi would cause a massive increase in our public debt even if we don’t borrow further
30. The rising taxes are eroding the disposable income of families
31. The unemployment crisis is increasing our risk
32. Government continues to pay lips service to the unemployment situation
33. Many have lost hope in securing employment before retiring from unemployment
34. President continues to parry away the taxes in the charter of luxurious jets
35. This government can draw on the NDC 2020 manifesto to find solutions to the current economic problems
36. The constitution we adopted has the power to cause accountability
37. President Akufo-Addo addressed the nation recently, and failed to address the very concerns that face the people
38. The President used the opportunity in addressing the nation to apportion blames, nothing is ever their fault. Everything, Mahama.
39. They have fallen victims to gaslighting
40. The very words they used against the NDC, has become taboo words for them
41. The list of excuses keep growing every day, moving from Covid-19 to Russia and Ukraine war, from financial sector cleanup
42. Covid-19 made available a windfall to this government that any government could ever dream about, over 30 billion
43. Covid-19 affected every economy on earth including our neighbours, but these neighbours have emerged strong than us
44. Long before Covid, it was evident that the economy was being mismanaged and headed for a crush
45. The creative accounting and cooking the books caught up with this administration
46. Instead of cushioning the people, this government saw these Covid-19 support money as a conduit to its electoral fortunes
47. The people of Ghana require an independent audit into the Covid-19 support fund
48. Before Ukraine and Russia war, fuel prices had gone up for more than 40 times
49. The government could have used far lesser resources to revive the collapsed banks
50. To save the banks, would have protected jobs. The total estimated cost was 9 billion to save these banks, but the current government chose to go for the nuclear solution, collapsed indigenous banks built from scratch and sweat of Ghanaians at a cost of 25 billion
51. A government that chose to spend 25 billion as a solution to something that 9 billion could do, cannot blame that exercise as the cause of their economic woes
52. The NDC was determined to expand energy demands and to resolve the challenges that governments faced ahead of the Mahama administration
53. On March 18th 2022, our peak demand for power left only a redundancy of 391MW less than the over 600MW that is recommended to be on standby
54. If any of the major plants currently working develops a fault, Ghana would suffer to sustain power. There is no excess capacity
55. I could have also blamed others for the power challenges. But I was aware that Ghanaians didn’t elect me to come and complain, so I took responsibility
56. President Akufo-Addo and his government must learn this leadership trait and be ready to take responsibility
57. The use of electronic transfers was to enable us bring in the informal sector. But unfortunately, government has decided to tax mobile money
58. When asked on the BBC why he wants to tax electronic wallets, he said it was a new growing area that is not being taxed. It’s either the President did not understand the question, or he was simply clueless.
59. Government determination to tax Ghanaians out of the debt hole would not work, because even the government’s own budget shows that this E-Levy would not change anything
60. The NDC is not against taxation, but is opposed to this E-Levy
61. The next NDC administration, with the votes of the good people of Ghana, will REPEAL THE E-LEVY ACT
62. It is not right to tax people to fund the creature comfort of the President and his family members
63. The financial malfeasance recorded by the Auditor General, is twice what the E-Levy is meant to provide
64. This government has become jittery and has become hyper-sensitive to the mildest form of criticism and has decided to instil fear in others who would wish to criticise it
65. For the first time in our history, 8 Ghanaians has been brutally killed in an election, yet, nothing has happened. The president has not spoken openly against it, has not uttered a word to the families of the victims, and has not made any indication of will you get the perpetrators dealt with
66. The current government is behaving more like a military dictatorship
67. These acts would not break our collective resolve to hold this government to account, no matter how many times they come at us
68. Suppression of the views of people has never shown to have kept a government in power than what the people can tolerate
69. There is a clear concern on the open bias of rulings in the judiciary that only favour government
70. We should build a judiciary whose fidelity is to the state and not the appointing political parties
ALTERNATIVES
71. Those accountable for the economic challenges must take responsibility
72. The president must remove the finance minister from office and appoint someone who would not pursue personal interests that his company benefits from the excessive borrowing
73. Reconstitute the economic management as it has failed - worst performing currency, ever rising inflation, worst fuel prices, unprecedented hardships, etc. which has caused the head of economic management to fall from his high tower to a poster boy of the economic management team
74. Appoint one of Ghana’s renowned economists to lead the economic management
75. The president must reshuffle his economic management
76. A clear and measurable government expenditure
77. Government must cut and trim down its size and rationalise the pay packages of heads of SOEs including innovative allowances that only provide more comfort to these individuals
78. Plug the loopholes that causes severe leakages in government revenues
79. Reduce borrowing by instituting a moratorium on all non-concessional borrowing
80. Stabilise the Cedi by ensuring that mining giants keep their profits in Ghana to help ease the pressure on the Cedi
81. Build buffers for repayments for the 2025 maturing bonds
82. National data and economic indices should be a matter of fact and not issues of debating
83. Government data must be transparent and not comparing rebased figures with non-rebased figures
84. Cease the collateralization of every fund which would tie the hands of even future governments
85. Revert to more realistic targets and stop creating further doubts in the minds of foreign investors
86. Capture the commanding height of our economy - improve our production in agriculture
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87. Sustaining democracy is not a matter of rhetoric, but by deeds
88. There must be a clear commitment to national benefit rather than of individual benefits
89. Ghanaians expect respect and humility from those who lead them
90. The administration must show commitment to building consensus with Ghanaians on things that concerns them most
91. Respect the rights of all citizens and stop witch-hunt of political opponents
92. The President must be bold to prosecute people who are engaged in corruption in his government
93. Do away with rogue elements infiltrated into the security services
94. The Attorney-General must prosecute those who brutally murdered 8 innocent citizens at the 2020 elections including the perpetrators of the Ayawaso West Wuogon brutalities
95. This government has lost its way and is ill-suited to govern
96. Recent showing in the sports arena shows that changing management can lead to better results
97. Time is not on our side and we must do well to bring hope and prosperity to Ghana
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