“All we are saying is that return the situation to the status quo. We no longer want ‘better Ghana’, we want the ‘normal Ghana’; with that Ghanaians were able to afford shelter, food, transportation and so on. In this better Ghana, they can’t afford all of these..…”
The above statement was made by Policy analyst of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Atik Mohammed in relation to the country’s current economic situation.
The Minority in Parliament had already painted a gloomy picture of the economy at a press conference a couple of weeks ago; saying the situation had deteriorated into a complete crisis and the country was on the threshold of being declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC).
At a media briefing days after the Minority’s press conference, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Seth Terkper, confirmed the economic challenges facing government. He disclosed that between January and August this year, the country recorded over Ghc11 billion from revenue and grants but over 70% of the money went into the payment of public sector workers leaving very little to finance capital projects.
He also admitted that it will be difficult for the government to achieve its “deficit targets for this year”.
Speaking to the issue on PeaceFM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ programme, Atik said the current economic crisis are all indications that the NDC led administration has failed in fulfilling its “Better Ghana Agenda”.
To him, the economy was doing better until the NDC administration’s promise of a ‘Better Ghana’, and sadly the ‘Better Ghana’ has rather worsened the plight of Ghanaians.
“Before Ghanaians were promised of a ‘Better Ghana’, the economy under ‘normal circumstance’ was good ‘and so they (current administration) should take us back to the normal Ghana. The failure of this country’s economy is a fatal one; it is gargantuanly fatal. We plead with the NDC to take their better Ghana; infact we don’t want it again…you offered it to us and we accepted. Now we don’t want it again. This economy has been badly damaged…” he said. |