<<Print>>

Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance (NHIA), Sylvester Mensah, has berated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over his recent comments about relying on God to help resuscitate the ailing economy.

In an interview with Accra-based Metro TV on August 21, he said the comment by the president smacks of failure by his government.

He stressed that it takes competence, knowledge and wisdom to manage the economic affairs of the country.

He pointed out that God will not descend from His heavenly throne to work on the economy even though he believes in Him.

He posited that the NDC has in the past demonstrated to be better managers of the economy thus Ghanaians should change their voting pattern in the next election and give them the mandate.

“We all believe in God. I am a Christian but I also believe that God will not come down to earth and as it were, to work on our economy for us. It takes knowledge, it takes talent, it takes wisdom.

"It takes competence to deal with economic issues. Prayers will help you only when you have done the needful. But we cannot as a country just resign to faith and simply say that the economy is in the hands of God.

“It is a signal of failure and it is very threatening and Ghanaians must see through that we voted for the wrong set of hands to manage this precious economy of ours. I think that Ghanaians must change their voting pattern.

"The NDC is ready. We have proven in the past that we are capable of managing this economy better. We have proven that as a party, the NDC has the men and women and we have also proven that given the mandate we achieve results,” Sly Mensah said.

President Akufo-Addo while speaking last week at the 12th Biennial conference of the Methodist Church of Ghana at Winneba said the government will continue with its various social intervention programmes.

While acknowledging the challenging times the country faces, he stated that he was optimistic God will he turn around the fortunes of the country which is experiencing a nosedive.

“We will also continue with our expansion and modernise our education system to create the 21-century workforce, systematically reform our health care system to ensure a robust system, the realization of agenda of industrial transformation that holds the key to future prosperity, execution of comprehensive infrastructure plans in roads and railway, conclusion of the digitalization project to attain full benefit, empowerment of the security agencies to guarantee the safety of the country.

"But above all, I will continue to have abiding faith in God to help turn the fortunes of the nation around together with appropriate policies, determination and hard work, and I urge all to have same beliefs that the fortunes of Ghana under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo will be restored, the battle is the Lord’s.” the President said.

Galloping inflation together with fuel price hikes has been the highlight of economic issues in the country. The Cedi as well has also been experiencing a free fall with the exchange rate pegged at GH₵10 to a US dollar at some forex bureaus.