Hungary’s new Ambassador to Ghana, HE Tamás Endre Fehér, has paid a courtesy call on former President John Dramani Mahama in his office in Cantonments, Accra, to formally introduce himself and discuss issues of mutual interest to the two countries.
Mr. Mahama welcomed the Ambassador, who began his tenure in September 2021, and recalled Ghana and Hungary’s long-standing friendship, which dates to President Kwame Nkrumah’s administration.
He acknowledged how the relationship between the two countries blossomed under his Foreign Minister, Madam Hanna Tetteh, whose mother was Hungarian, culminating in an increase in Hungarian scholarships to Ghana from 2 to 50, and then to 100 currently.
Mr. Mahama provided an overview of the country’s challenges, including the economic malaise caused by mismanagement and unbridled borrowing, both of which have contributed to extreme hardships for the Ghanaian people.
The challenges confronting the country, as a result of mismanagement, the former President noted, started long before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and the Russian-Ukraine war began.
He said this was in spite of the fact the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administrations resolved a debilitating power crisis, left to the present government economic buffers including the Sinking Fund, Heritage Fund, Stabilisation Fund and a high IMF and World Bank projected growth rate, which the government inherited in 2017 but failed to sustain.
Mr. Mahama further emphasized the lack of political will to combat corruption involving government appointees, as well as the forced resignation of the former Auditor General, which he claims is due to the administration’s lack of accountability.
Ambassador Tamás Fehér, on his part, thanked the former President for the reception and expressed his delight that Hungarian experts have contributed to Ghana’s development in various ways. He praised former Minister, Hanna Tetteh’s efforts to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
He also expressed confidence that the two countries’ friendship would grow even stronger, promising that the scholarships would be increased.