The New Patriotic Party Minority Members of Parliament have passed a vote of no confidence in the ability of the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress government to tackle the current economic crisis facing the nation, explaining that it has now become clear the government lacks workable ideas, with all the ideas put forward proving to be incapable of fixing the ailing economy. The group insists the current situation in the country is mainly the result of fiscal indiscipline and economic mismanagement being superintended over by President John Dramani Mahama.
According to the Minority Caucus, the problems facing the economy can also be partly traced to the failure of the Mahama government to listen to good advice offered by groups and individuals who are well-versed in economic issues and choosing to engage in needless propaganda about the economy.
“The NDC has to learn that propaganda has its limits and the bad economic management has adverse consequences for the economy,” the group said in a press statement, adding: “The government of President Mahama would not listen to good counsel. Even after all the credit rating agencies downgraded our credit rating as well as outlook, the government failed to put its fiscal house in order. Instead, President Mahama’s government and their apologists chose to engage in fruitless arguments with these rating agencies.”
The statement noted that all the fiscal consolidation efforts outlined in the 2013 budget by the government did not see the light of day, resulting in a budget deficit of about 11 per cent of GDP in 2013, while the nation’s debt stock ballooned to $23 billion, up from the $8 billion left behind by the NPP government in 2008.
“The combined effect of the uncontrolled borrowing, most of which were not supported by proper due diligence, the irresponsible spending, including the unprecedented humongous over expenditure, coupled with high inflation, is the lamentable weakening of the cedi to the levels we are seeing now. It is a matter of fiscal indiscipline and economic mismanagement. It is not because of dwarfs, high rise buildings, or redenomination,” the statement explained.
The statement regretted that even though the masses were not part of the reckless actions of the Mahama government, they are now at the receiving end of the harsh economic realities in the country. “Today, everybody is complaining about the rising cost of living, high unemployment, the lack of confidence in our economy and the depreciating cedi. It is clear the government is bereft of workable ideas. Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that this administration can fix the economy since, thus far, whatever ideas this government is capable of generating and, indeed, has put forth have proved incapable of fixing the economy,” the statement stressed.
The Minority MPs challenged the claim that the fast depreciation of the cedi was the result of the dollarization of the economy, stressing: Dollarization has always been something the economy has lived with since the 1970s. This phenomenon comes alive during periods of economic mismanagement and fiscal indiscipline as we are currently seeing.”
The statement added that the depreciation of the cedi was attributable, among other things, to the injection of an excess amount of cedis into the economy relative to production. “We are paying the price of Woyome, Waterville, Isofoton and other so-called judgment debts, SADA, SUBA, GYEEDA. Dealing with corruption is therefore key to restoring sanity in public finance,” the statement explained.