Former President John Dramani Mahama is not the guy Ghanaians will want to hear about economics, according to Presidential Staffer Mr. Dennis Miracles Aboagye.
He claimed that since Mr. Mahama had the chance to lead the nation between 2013 and 2016 but failed to do so, he is ineligible to make statements about economic concerns that he was unable to resolve.
When responding to a speech on the economy delivered by Mr. Mahama on Thursday, July 30, the former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Akuapem North made these comments on the New Day programme on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes on Friday, July 1.
"We have previously met the individual, and we are aware of his abilities and limitations. We won't want to listen to economic lectures from him. Was he able to accomplish them in 2013 and 2016 when he had the potential to do so?
Among other things, Mr. Mahama stated that the e-levy was advertised as the solution to Ghana's economic woes.
He said that the Ghanaians had been informed that doing so would allow the government to borrow less.
According to his assertions and warnings to the government over the excessively aggressive income and fiscal policy objectives, the first quarter data available indicates that such targets will not be fulfilled.
He believed that this would undoubtedly lead to an even greater credibility issue for the already-struggling economy.
"For the whole month of May, the much-heralded e-levy, which was forced down Ghanaians' throats, earned a pitiful GHS 54 million against a projected budget of GHS... GHS 475 million was the monthly budgeted amount, or just 11.3%. Since just roughly GHS 7.1 million had been collected by the first week of June, there has been little indication of progress. These statistics show that the e-levy has been a colossal failure thus far and has evolved into the mother of all annoyance taxes, and I want to restate my earlier commitment that we would remove it in the very first budget statement to be delivered under the future NDC administration.
In contrast to the 2022 budget's projection of GHS 14.6 billion in overall tax income for the first quarter of this year, he said that GHS 12.8 billion was actually received.
He clarified that this sum was insufficient to cover the debt service obligation for the same time period, which was GHS 13.9 billion.
To put it another way, the whole amount of taxes that the government collected in the first quarter of this year was less than the total interest on our debt that was paid, which was GHS 10.68 billion and amortisation that was GHS 3.3 billion. In percentage terms, the entire debt service for the first three months of this year was equivalent to 108% of all taxes gathered by the government during that time.
It is the cause of the government's inability to supply textbooks and other educational resources for our schools, as well as the significant debts that have accrued to statutory funds like the NHIS, District Assemblies Common Fund, and GETFund, among others. Only GHS 38 million of the GHS 1.3 billion the government budgeted for domestic contractor payments in the first quarter of this year and nothing of the GHS 285 million budgeted for clearing arrears in the first quarter of 2022 were paid, according to the 2020 presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).