The Diplomatic Corps in Ghana, has pledged its support for President John Mahama’s bailout negotiation with the International Monetary fund (IMF), virtually telling Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP Vice-Presidential candidate to shut down his continuous criticism of the move by managers of the economy.
According to them, they appreciate the current economic challenges the nation is experiencing, and expressed the confidence that President John Mahama, will lead the nation out of the current economic situation with help from the IMF.
Speaking at a meeting with the President at Peduase Lodge, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Pavelyn Tendai Musaka said: “We do not underestimate your government’s capability to tackle this challenge head on and for this reason; we support the ongoing negotiations with the IMF and other related efforts to stabilize the economy.”
Ironically, the NPP Vice-Presidential candidate, said that government had no justification seeking financial bailout from the IMF in view of its defense that the nation’s economy was not broke.
According to him, no amount of donor funds, could fix the nation’s economy because, “Government is clueless.”
He cited mismanagement and corruption, as the two major factors to the nation’s ailing economy. He was speaking at the Tamale Polytechnic on the occasion of the NPP’s Tertiary Education Students Confederacy (TESCON) 15th Anniversary.
Government is now looking to begin a bailout programme with the IMF by the end of March 2015, and it is hoping to secure about $1 billion from the Bretton-woods institutions, under a three-year programme.
Musaka in her address, commended government’s initiative to promote the patronage of made in Ghana products, which according to her, is in sync with similar strategies being put in place to stabilize the cedi and grow the local industry.
She was optimistic that many African countries will, “seriously consider taking a cue from such a sound policy initiative.” The Diplomatic Corps also congratulated President Mahama for assuming the chairmanship of ECOWAS.
In response, President Mahama, thanked the Diplomatic Corps for reposing such confidence in him and gave the assurance that Ghana would continue to support other West African countries in distress, regardless of its economic situation.
He said: “Ghana values and recognizes its shared values with the people of the West African region and the African continent as a whole.
Despite the challenges, we have faced in our own country, we are not withstanding, not recoiled and abandoned our neighbours and friends in their own period of distress.”
President Mahama, pointed out that although he has worked extremely hard as ECOWAS chairman, “he would have demonstrated the same level of commitment even if we [Ghana] were not to occupy that position.”
In the NPP and NDC Comparisons, Dr. Bawumia said that the Mahama-Amissah Arthur led NDC administration, has within six years piled 69.5 billion debt stock, against that of the erstwhile Kufuor administration’s recorded debt stock of 9.5 billion Dollars within a period of 8 years.
Dr. Bawumia, asserted that the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) within six years, raked 62 billion US Dollars from taxation, in opposition to the NPP’s taxation rate of 15 billion US Dollars for eight years.
He said, the governing NDC borrowed 27 billion US Dollars within six years, whilst that of the NPP stood at 5 billion Dollars for eight years.
Dr. Bawumia, argued that the incumbent NDC administration cashed in 25 billion US Dollars for gold export within six years, whereas the NPP’s gold export revenue mobilization stood at 9 billion US Dollars for eight years.
On cocoa export, he stated that the governing NDC secured 14.5 billion US Dollars within six years against that of the NPP’s cocoa export revenue of 7.4 billion US Dollars for eight years.
With Ghana now as oil producing country, Dr. Bawumia disclosed that the NDC government within six years gained 13.7 billion US Dollars.
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