Former President John Dramani Mahama has chastised some economic experts who are unable to criticise the Akufo-Addo administration for what he described as the mismanagement of the local economy.
According to Mr Mahama, these same experts were vocal during his tenure but have suddenly kept mute under the Akufo-Addo administration.
In a Facebook post, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said these experts have created the impression that the hardship that Ghanaians are saddled with at the moment was his creation.
“Our people are galled by the hypocrisy of so-called economic experts, asking them in 2016 to forget about economic statistics and look at the escalation of prices of cement and other products on the market, and then today hearing the same experts in government hold-up statistics, inflation etc., and say that life is better for them.
“And that the perception of hardship in Ghana is a creation of Mahama.
Mr Mahama in criticising the Akufo-Add administration also asked the government to organise an economic forum just as he did with the Senchi Forum.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo in responding to this call stated that “I wonder whether this statement was made tongue in cheek by the former president. When you look at the record that this political leader, who can accuse my government of mismanagement, there are a few facts that when you put on the table to compare his performance and mine, it would tell you that if what I am offering people is economic mismanagement.”
He continued, “I wonder what words should we describe his (Mahama) stewardship of Ghana. It is an unmitigated disaster, that’s what I would call him.”
According to President Akufo-Addo, under the tenure of office of John Mahama, the economic growth rate in 2016 stood at 3.4%, the lowest in two decades; with all other macroeconomic indicators pointing in the wrong direction.
“Inflation, when he left office, was 15.4%; today, at the end of July, which are the last hard facts from the Statistical Service, it’s 9%. Interest rates are always a good determinant of how the economy is operating, 32% in December 2016, today, it is 20.6%. We are talking about treasury bill decline in interest rate, we are talking about the trade deficit that was $1.8 billion in 2016, to a trade surplus of $2.6 billion at the end of 2019,” the President said.
