Former President John Dramani Mahama
•John Mahama says the economy is in tatters and requires urgent intervention
•He foresees government going to the IMF for some program
•He claims that his suggestions have been rejected by the government
Former President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is operating a government where the view of persons other than his party members are not factored into decision making.
John Mahama is concerned that his successor appears not to find his views on the management of the economy worthy of consideration.
John Mahama who claims the economy is ailing cited a proposal of a 2021 edition of the Senchi conference which occurred under his tenure as a means of bringing experts and stakeholders under one roof to find ways of turning the economy around.
The former President who is on a ‘Thank You’ tour of the country disclosed in a radio interview that he has made efforts to draw the focus of President Akufo-Addo to certain interventions or decisions which in his wisdom will help shape the economy but the president is yet to accept any of them.
“It is obvious to see things are not the best: the economy is in a crisis and this is not the first time I’ve said the economy is in a crisis. I’ve made my suggestions to him [Akufo-Addo] and it doesn’t appear he’s interested in taking them.
“On my Facebook, I posted that there was a time when we had a crisis with the economy and difficulties in terms of financing the budget and all kinds of things, so, we needed to come out with a home-grown fiscal policy.
“What did we do? We went to Senchi and we called all stakeholders and we had a consensus on the home-grown fiscal policy. That was the policy we eventually put into a programme at the IMF to begin to turn things around.
“So, I suggested that he [Akufo-Addo] holds a Senchi-like forum so that we can build a consensus around growing the economy but it doesn’t look like it is something they are interested in but the economy definitely is in a crisis, it’s obvious for everybody to see,” Mr Mahama stated.
John Dramani Mahama waded into the financial sector clean and criticized the government over how it handled the issue.
He noted that “businesses are complaining, especially after the banking sector clean-up”, noting: “It’s wiped out Ghanaian capital.
“That’s the point and up till now, the president had promised that they were going to pay everybody and there are many people who have not received their deposits that was wiped out by the banking sector clean-up”, Mr Mahama noted.
He said: “Aside from that, the public debt, almost twenty-something billion that has been placed on us, as part of the public debt, has affected the economy and also the freebies during the elections – free water, free light – the finance minister came and said they spent 19 billion on COVID relief; that’s huge, and, so, the indebtedness has to be paid, somehow. That’s how come they’ve introduced the new taxes and all that.”
Mr Mahama noted that “with the way the economy is going, something needs to give”, adding that he “won’t be surprised if this administration eventually goes into some sort of programme with the IMF.”
“It’s easy for everybody to see that the economy was in a crisis before COVID-19 hit,” he said.
“In 2019, it was obvious that the rate of borrowing was excessive and things were not going correctly. COVID just exacerbated it but already, the management of the economy was in a crisis long before COVID arrived”, he asserted.
“Even in our traditional homes, you borrow money for something productive, something tangible. You borrow money to build a house or reroof your house or buy a bicycle to be able to ride to the farm; mostly something that gives a return on investment. [With] school buildings, children are able to learn and get more educated people who will be a good human resource for the country,” he pointed out.
“If it’s healthcare, you’ll keep your citizens healthy and they will be able to work. If it’s roads, you’re able to facilitate the movement of passengers and goods across the length and breadth of the country. If it’s airports, you are able to facilitate local and international travel. There are so many things that you borrow to put in place so that it enhances the productivity of your country and enhances the growth of your country.”
Mr Mahama explained that when he was president, “you could look at our borrowing profile and you could see that it was going into two main things: that is – into infrastructure to provide more roads, hospitals, schools, expand our ports and so on and also into what we call taking off high-interest debts that we inherited.”