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Acting Ashanti Regional Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Raymond Tandoh has descended heavily on Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, the 2012 Vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP.) He stated categorically that Dr. Bawumia has no moral rights to castigate the Mahama-led NDC government over the management of the country�s economy. Mr. Tandoh, an astute financial consultant, said the economy was in shambles during the previous NPP administration, stressing that Dr. Bawumia was the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in charge of monetary policy at the time. He asked Dr. Bawumia to stop criticizing the NDC administration over the budget deficit, insisting that the NPP guru is part of the problem. Speaking to Daily Guide, Mr. Tandoh explained that in 2007 when Dr. Bawumia was the Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, the cedi was trading at Gh92p to a dollar. Date indicate that the cedi was 8 per cent stronger than the dollar starting in 2007 and it lasted for only 18 months after which the cedi jumped from 1.20p to one dollar, he said. Mr. Tandoh said the NDC�s team of financial experts introduced effective policies to stabilize the cedi from 2009 to the first quarter of 2012. The NDC member argued that the NDC administration enhanced the country�s economy within five years, adding, �Dr. Bawumia should be bold and praise the NDC and stop criticizing the government.� Providing statistics to buttress his claim that the NDC administration had effectively managed the economy, he said �when Dr. Bawumia and his team were leaving office, inflation rate was 18 per cent again the NDC was able to bring it to a single digit of 8.20 per cent within 27 months. If the NDC administration has been able to chalk such landmark feat for the country, then Dr. Bawumia�s argument that the NDC has mismanaged the economy during the last five years is a hoax, he indicated. He said Dr. Bawumia ignored veritable facts and resorted to propaganda in his assessment of the country�s economy. Mr. Tandoh admitted that the economy faced some difficulties in the latter part of 2012 through to mid 2013. He said the NDC administration could not be blamed entirely for the challenges, notably the budget deficit. He explained that factors such as capital fright during the election period whereby several people withdrew their monies from the banks for fear of the unknown, adversely affected the economy. According to him, capital fright distorted the budget for 2012, which led to the current budget deficit. Mr. Tandoh said that the high wage bill and subsidies on electricity and fuel, which cost millions of dollars on monthly basis, also contributed to the budget deficit. Explaining further, he said the energy crisis in 2012 affected taxes that government received from industries �to the extent that our actual revenue as at June 2012 was GH�10.4 billion as against the target of GH�12.5billion.� As part of measures to tackle the aforementioned imbalances, Mr. Tandoh said the government had widened and increased taxes, removed subsidies on petrol and electricity as a short-term measure to save the economy, adding �the government took this timely and important decision with great pain.� The financial consultant debunked Dr. Bawumia�s assertion that the NDC had mismanaged the country�s economy since assuming power, urging Dr. Bawumia to criticize constructively.