The 2012 presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo says the current economic difficulties Ghana is experiencing calls for efficient and honest management of public resources and projects.
Announcing his decision to contest to lead the NPP in the 2016 general elections, Nana Addo stated that the problems facing the economy is as a result of corruption and the ‘’inability of the current leadership to fight it’’.
“The depressing reality is that corruption is costing the nation jobs as government chooses to pay more money for less; corruption is denying our children money to fund their education, the school feeding program is starved of cash, contractors are not being paid, our development partners are refusing to release funds to support our budget, salaries are in arrears…,’’ he noted.
He said even with Ghana’s limited resources , the NDC government could have done more, but this has been impossible due to the deficit and inefficiencies in value for money for public procurements.
“The World Bank and the government of Ghana estimate a funding gap of some 2 billion dollars per annum to meet Ghana’s infrastructural needs; yet we manage to register a record budget deficit of more than 4 billion dollars in 2012 which occurred without even meeting our spending targets for infrastructural development in the election year,’’ he added.
According to him the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has been struggling to manage the nation’s economic crisis.‘’two years on our new Finance Minister continues to struggle to plug that fiscal hole instead of spending his vital energies trying to stimulate the economy.’’
Nana Addo further indicated that for Ghana to succeed in Industrializing, the infrastructure of the nation must be built solidly.
“To succeed in industrializing Ghana we must show a far greater seriousness in building the nation’s infrastructure including; not only power but also housing, transport, water, irrigation and ICT.’’
Nana Addo stated that want Ghana needs is the government that makes the issue of giving value for money the underlying principle for managing public funds. ‘’We need that to develop greater confidence in our economy,’’ he said.