Ketu South MP and Member not Parliament’s Finance Committee, Franklin Fiifi Kwetey has rubbished claims by the ruling government that it met an economy that was in a messy state, after taking over power.
According to the former Deputy Finance Minister under the erstwhile NDC government, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), after assuming power, has lied to Ghanaians about the state of the country, running down the Mahama administration as though they never embarked on policies to develop the country.
“They kept lying to Ghanaians…and they keep building Ghana on a platform of deception,” he said.
Mr Kwetey made this known when speaking at a public forum on the 2020 Budget and Economic Policy at the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra.
Asking Ghanaians not to accept the “lies” of the Akufo-Addo government, Mr Kwetey said the Mahama government performed exceptionally to boost the economy unlike the NPP that is enjoying the fruits of the hard labour of the Mahama government.
Describing the NPP government as “Irresponsible, lazy and incompetent”, the financial analyst said they (the NPP) met a growing economy but fails to acknowledge the NDC for its numerous achievements.
Among the lot he mentioned were a robust oil sector that could generate 200,000 barrels of oil a day for the government, adding that there is no government in the fourth republic that has benefited from the oil sector than the Akufo-Addo government.
He added that the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA), which the NPP kicked against while in opposition, now gives the government a minimum 3 billion cedis a year.
He stated that the NDC handed to the NPP a Gross International Reserves of about 6.2 billion dollars before leaving office, adding that there was no way the NDC could leave behind a messy economy.
Touching on cocoa production which was better under the Mahama administration than under Akufo-Addo today, Fiifi Kwetey said the NPP had to fabricate figures to make the Mahama government look bad while in actual fact it is the NPP government that has underperformed in that sector.
He said the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) was so “robust and financially powerful” that it could use their balance sheet to raise billions of dollars for itself.themselves.
“In 2016 we lowered interest rate from 26 percent to 16%,” Mr Kwetey stated and said the effects of the reduction was positive on small and larger businesses thereby contributing immensely to the GDP growth of the country.
He said the NDC government constructed a gas processing plant that gives the country about 300 million dollars yearly as an alternative to importing light crude oil and gives Ghana about 180 million standard cubic feet of gas.
On electricity, the MP noted that the 8 year governance of the NDC from 2009 to the end of 2016 saw the increase of electricity coverage from 52% to 83% while “NPP hasn’t increased it to 1%” after assuming power some 3 years ago.
He said the NPP government has lost credibility because they have majored in lying than transforming the country as they promised in 2016.
Source: Ghana|Myxyzonline.com