President Nana Akufo-Addo has gone dismissive on the performance of Ghana’s “terrible” economy telling a BBC reporter every country is struggling including Nigeria where the reporter hails from is “no exception”.
According to the Ghanaian President, he does not know any economy around the world that is doing well in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and also the geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine.
President Akufo-Addo, who is in London on a rented private jet costing Ghanaian taxpayers US$18,000 an hour according to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), said economies around the world are all struggling owing to these two main factors.
Speaking in an interview with BBC’s Peter Okwoche on Monday April 4, he said “we have also the opportunity to have industries set up not just for Ghana [but also] for the ECOWAS market and also for the African market.
“We now have an African Continental Free Trade Area agreement which is up and operating. Ghana is the gateway to its market of 1.2billion people. Imagine the opportunities that we are presenting.”
It was at this point that Mr Okwoche interjected and told Mr Akufo-Addo that “Let us just be honest, the Ghanaian economy is doing just terrible. Inflation in your country is 15.1 per cent. The Ghanaian cedi has fallen 20 per cent on the dollar.”
But President Akufo-Addo replied him saying “I don’t know the economy in the world that is doing well.
“The Cedi has begun to firm up. The world is going through a difficult [moment], Ghana is no exception, Nigeria is no exception. There is no country in the world that is escaping the ravages of Covid-19 and also the impact of the [Russia-Ukraine conflict].”
He added “In Ghana, the recovery programme that we have is considered very credible and it is what is going to give us the opportunity to come out of this period stronger, it is that future we are looking at.”
Nana Akufo-Addo and his cousin, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta have spared not effort blaming Coronavirus and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict for the plummeting cedi against the dollar in particular, skyrocketing fuel prices, the daily rise of goods and services, and asked Ghanaians to tight their belts, but he is not living what he preached.
According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, hours after giving “presidential assent” to the E-Levy in the wake of its passage by the Members of Parliament (MP) on the ticket of the ruling the New Patriotic Party (NPP), President Akufo-Addo went “back to his old ways of Russian Oligarchic travels”.
The North Tongu MP, who has been tracking the President on his foreign trips revealed that although “President Akufo-Addo left Accra for Washington on Thursday 31st March, 2022 at 11:52pm aboard a United Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with call sign UAL997”, he “couldn’t wait to fly his favourite US$18,000 an hour LX-DIO from Washington where he departed at 10:13am and arrived at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina at 11:22am
The MP noted that Akufo-Addo’s latest trip to the United States of America and then to the United Kingdom to address Bishop T.D. Jakes’ summit on pastoral leadership means that “since May last year, the Ghanaian taxpayer has spent at least GHS28.5 million on President Akufo-Addo’s ostentatious travels”.
Mr. Okudzeto, on Sunday 3rd April 2022, took to his Facebook page and posted “So, President Akufo-Addo left Accra for Washington on Thursday 31st March, 2022 at 11:52pm aboard a United Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with call sign UAL997.
“Before the President landed at 6:40am at the Dulles International Airport in Washington on the 1st of April, the ubiquitous luxury LX-DIO had landed at the same airport the previous day at 12:27pm waiting for President Akufo-Addo.
“President Akufo-Addo couldn’t wait to fly his favourite US$18,000 an hour LX-DIO from Washington where he departed at 10:13am and arrived at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina at 11:22am — a flight time of 01:09. It is important to acknowledge that there were more than a dozen available commercial flights with business class tickets not exceeding $700 in value.
“The President kept the LX-DIO with him as he addressed Bishop T.D. Jakes’ summit and then flew aboard the same extravagant jet yesterday the 2nd of April, 2022 at 9:28am US time and arriving at the London Stansted Airport at 9:40pm UK time. A flight time of some 7hours 54minutes.
This comes as the World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Pierre Laporte described the country’s current economic challenges as “very serious”, adding “at the World Bank, we’ve not hidden the fact when we’ve held discussions with government officials and even the head of state that Ghana faces a very tough road ahead to restore macro sustainability.”
Speaking at the 65th Independence Day Lecture held at the Economics Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, on Monday, March 7, 2022, on the ‘state of the nation’s economy he said Ghana’s economic situation is very serious.
“Is it a really serious situation? Well, the numbers speak for themselves”, Pierre Laporte noted, emphasising: “The situation is very serious”.
Pierre Laporte, suggested cost-cutting measures warning against unnecessary government expenditure.
Others such as Professor Stephen Adei, ex-Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), a governance expert Prof. Baffour Agyeman–Duah, who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of the John A. Kufuor Foundation as well as Dr Ransford Gyampo, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana had suggested a reduction in the size of Akufo-Addo government but they were ignored by the President.
