The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin, has told former President John Dramani Mahama that the economy has been managed better under the Akufo-Addo administration.
But for the prudent use of state resources, he said, the government could not have successfully implemented programmes including the free Senior High School (SHS) programme to benefit Ghanaian children.
He also said the fact that Mr Akufo-Addo’s mandate was renewed in the 2020 elections was an indication of the confidence the people had and continue to have in the current administration.
His comments come after Mr Mahama had told President Akufo-Addo to up his game in dealing with the hardships Ghanaians are saddled with at the moment.
Mr Mahama noted that times are hard for Ghanaians. The economy, in his view, is not doing well hence, the destitutions.
Speaking on Tuesday November 9 as part of his tour of the Greater Accra region, Mr Mahma said “I think that this government has to sit up.”
He added “The tragedy of our current national situation is that we have a government that appears completely unwilling to acknowledge the problems and even begin the process of addressing them. We are instead confronted with an administration that believes that these major problems can be wished away through PR, sloganeering, divisive rhetoric, populism, and plain political deception.
“Take our present economic state for example. At a time when everyone is crying out over the excruciating hardships brought on by excessive taxation, ever increasing cost of living, weekly fuel price increases, this government chooses to recite a hackneyed mantra, that there are indicators that show that the economy is doing well.
“Even if we were to overlook the mismatch between these claims and the very visceral suffering and pain people are going through in their daily lives; it beggars belief, that the same people saying this were only six years ago, dismissing any linkage between the welfare of Ghanaians and economic indices.
“They said, then, that they had visited markets and were not experiencing single digit prices as the inflation rate then would dictate. They insisted then, that the best way to measure the strength or otherwise of the fundamentals of the economy was to look at the exchange rate, for its depreciation would expose the weakness therein. These days however, even as the exchange rate depreciates to very worrying levels, they say we have strong economic fundamentals.
“Beyond these spirited linguistic acrobatics, the plain truth, which we all see and feel, is that the Ghanaian economy is in deep crisis. At the micro level, we feel the heavy impact of a troubled economy when we go to the market and find prices of basic items rising with alarming rapidity. We also feel it when we go to the fuel station and find that the already high price of fuel has been
increased again.”
But responding to him, Mr Eugene Arhin said on Thursday November 11 that “You all recollect that the president took oath of office on 7th of January 2017 and again on 7th of January 2021 and on both occasions he pledged to protect the public purse. That is exactly what he has done and continues to do.
“The transformation that has taken place in all aspects of our national life point to an economy that has been well managed, a public purse that is being well protected and the benefits are showing.
“Indeed if president Akufo-Addo had superintended over the wanton dissipation of the public funds, firstly, the Ghanaian people would not have reposed confidence in him barley 10 months ago by returning decisive margin of victory for him in the 2020 elections.
“The free SHS which guarantees a minimum of senior high school education for all Ghanaian children and has already granted access to some 400,000 children would not have been possible if the public purse was not being protected.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana