<<Print>>

The Young Patriots, a youth wing of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) contends that the country�s economy has slumped over the past couple of years and is currently in coma because President John Dramani Mahama is treating the agriculture sector with the �Ezra principle.� According to the Young Patriots, this principle has led to the dwindling fortunes of the agricultural sector of the Ghanaian economy leading to the Dutch disease as reported in the 2013 Ghana Economic Review outlook Report by Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA). The group claims that at the IEA debate on Tuesday, President Mahama failed to explain why the agric sector of the Ghanaian economy is dwindling and accused him (Mahama) of having no vision for the sector 'beyond rhetoric and propaganda'. Their comments come in the wake of the celebration of this year�s National Farmers Day celebration slated for Friday. �President John Dramani Mahama last Tuesday, in explaining why the agric sector of the Ghanaian economy was dwindling sort to play down the effects of the Dutch disease and rather blamed the problem on the fisheries and logging sub-sectors; the report of CEPA pointedly indicates it is the Dutch disease at play...President John Dramani Mahama has no vision for the agriculture sector of Ghana beyond rhetoric and propaganda; we are therefore urging all Ghanaians especially Ghanaian farmers to demand a workable blue print on agriculture from the President during the celebration of the farmer�s day, Ghanaian farmers deserve better than propaganda and cheap talk, the time to get real is now,� President of the Young Patriots, Richard Nyamah said at a press conference held on Thursday. Below is a copy of the Young Patriots� statement.