By Abdul Razak Bawa
Regardless of what president Akufo-Addo will have us believe, as a nation, we have never experienced what we are going through, as far as the depreciation of the legal tender, and other economic indicators are concerned.
Were Ghana to be a company, this will be the best time to file for bankruptcy.
They seem to be no end in sight to the depreciation of the cedi, despite a raft of measures introduced by
In an interview on Nandom FM during his tour of the Upper West region on August 22, the president said what mattered most for him was to work with the party executives to oversee the election of a flagbearer fairly and transparently.
He said, once a flagbearer emerges out of the contest for the position fairly and transparently, NPP will be able to unite and triumph over the National Democratic Congress in the 2024 elections.
“Let’s create the conditions for a fair, transparent process. One that will enable us after the competition to unite. We want out of that process somebody who will come who will have the capacity to unite our party and put it in a position to confront the traditional opponent National Democratic Congress and beat the National Democratic Congress in December 2024. Mine is to do whatever I can do to assist the new leadership of the party,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The preoccupation, however, of the president, who seems oblivious of the crisis, he has gotten the country into is the 2024 election.
This newspaper, like most well-meaning Ghanaians have consistently argued the urgency for the president and his government to fulfill their mandate which, primarily, is the greater good for the greater number.
There is too much attention on matters that do not address the peculiaritiesthat affect the life of the average Ghanaian.
There is enough time to talk about politics and breaking the 8, in 2024, but for now the president must concentrate of fulfilling his promises and brining the economy back on track.
Ghanaians are watching as the cedi is on a free fall, and this unfortunately, is affecting the cost of virtually every commodity in a country that is criminally import-dependent.
As things stand now, the country is on autopilot, every sector, has not only stagnated but has retrogressed. The president and his team, have no clue how to steer the ship out of troubled waters, so he goes about saying things that are not going to improve the living standard of Ghanaians.
This country, once upon a time, had leaders, who are compassionate, purposeful, results-oriented and morally upright, today the enviable record of Ghana, is that, it is the second worst performing country, only after Sri Lanka.
So far, President Akufo-Addo, hasnot shown the strength of character and will-power to right the wrongs in Ghana and return the nation to its destined glorious path.
He has spent the last six years, destroying what president John Dramani Mahama took four years to build.
The last six years of his presidency has witnessed the worst form of corruption and mismanagement. Corruption and corrupt officials have been embolden by the nonchalant attitude of the president. If you doubt me, pick the Auditor-General’s report from 2017 to 2021, the evidence is overwhelming.
From the onset of his presidency in 201, Akufo-Addo, has blamed John Mahama and the NDC for the poor economic state of the country.
He met a buoyant and prosperous economy, that has been predicted by Rating Agencies and the Bretton Wood Institutions to witness a period of boom, because of the sound economic policies that were initiated by the John Mahama administration.
He inherited a country whose image abroad and among its peers in Africa, was an envy to citizens of other countries, but today Ghana is compared with the worst performing economies in the world.
The problems of Ghana today are multiple and confounding, prices of goods and services have hit the roof, Ghanaians are under excruciating pain with no end in sight. The president and his government, have not shown both in words and action how they wish to change the situation.
The president in the lead up to the 2016 elections, accused his predecessor of running the country aground, he gave his word about ending the malaises with time and he picked on the most sensitive ones- the economy and corruption, but everything he criticized he has increased in ten-fold.
If ever there is any offence Ghanaians have committed against president Akufo-Addo to warrant this unfortunate bitter experience, can Akufo-Addo, say Ghanaians have not shown him love when he came begging them to try him, he won the 2016 election by a landslide. Should Ghanaians now blame themselves for voting for him and the NPP.
We should also ask ourselves why is it that what we have been hearing from political leaders is propaganda that cannot stand the test of reality.
Akufo-Addo, has failed to stabilize the economy and arrest the rapid depreciation of the local currency against its major trading currencies, especially the dollar, the president, has failed to safeguard the future of Ghanaian children through quality education, the Free Senior High School policy, which has become the trump card of this administration, has been nothing but disaster. Never in the history of this country, have we witnessed examination malpractices at that level.
Why has the president continue to keep the same set of people that, have brought the country to where we are today, Ghana is obviously has not run short of human resource.
With rising inflation and cost of living, which has pushed many into the poverty net, the president should spare us the rhetoric’ and get to work, time is running out.
Elections will come and go, political parties will come and go, but the most important equation in all these times are Ghanaians. The purpose of politics is to bring a desired change in the lives of the people.
The President made a covenant with God and the Ghanaian people, he must keep to it and stop disturbing us what will happen in 2024. Ghanaians will be the best judge whether the New Patriotic Party deserves another term of office.
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