The current government of Ghana as formed by the New Patriotic Party and led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, came to power at a time when the Ghanaian people grew tired of the country’s economic woes. The people after emphatically kicking the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration out at the polls, gave the New Patriotic the time and space to rebuild the supposed crumbling economy at the time. The Cedi’s performance against the United States Dollar, the price of gasoline products and the general cost of living were key among the topics that the New Patriotic Party preached from the rooftops of every Ghanaian home prior to the 2016 Ghanaian general elections.
In one of his many speeches prior to the elections, current vice president Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia categorically touted the National Democratic Congress with the statement; “if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you.” Following an all out verbal assault on the credibility of the National Democratic Congress, the people of Ghana had no choice but to view the New Patriotic as the messiahs of the Ghanaian economy.
Six (6) years has passed since the NDC’s infamous defeat at the polls with the NPP going on to retain the presidential seat despite losing the absolute control they had in parliament during their first term. Today, the people of Ghana are slowly waking up to the reality that they involved themselves in a “Circle business” or in simple terms, their colour television was swapped for a black and white television.
Despite being the only government to be given the amount of power and patience this government is armed with in the history of Ghana’s fourth republic, the New Patriotic Party failed and continue to fail woefully in managing the country’s economy. Despite claiming in their first year in power to have “arrested and locked up” the Dollar, the Cedi has seen about 90% depreciation against the Dollar since 2017. The price of a liter of gasoline has more than doubled while the cost of transportation has seen close to 100% increment within the same period. While prices of goods and services keep escalating at an unprecedented rate however, salaries and other remuneration of workers (with the exception of government appointees) remain stagnant. The general cost of living in Ghana today is at it’s highest since the famine in the 1980s yet the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Dr. Bawumia led New Patriotic party refuse to admonish the facts of the issue.
Six years since being handed power by the Ghanaian people, the New Patriotic Party is yet to do anything about the floods that take Ghanaian lives and destroy Ghanaian properties yearly. Despite putting together a gargantuan economic management team, the current government seem to have very little or no knowledge of how to keep prices of goods and services in check, keep fuel affordable, not rob the people with the introduction of an electronic transaction levy and not allow the exchange rate “expose” them. As Ghana’s economy takes a nosedive therefore, one could say that the country’s economic woes are simply exposing the emptiness of the New Patriotic Party and their gigantic economic management team led by Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia.
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