Folks, those of us who have been criticizing the political agenda of Akufo-Addo all these years won’t fold up just because he won Election 2016, implying that the voters saw him as a redeemer. We will still dig in because enough exists for us to wonder what exactly he has up his sleeves to give Ghana what it hasn’t seen or had before.
Since assuming office, the Akufo-Addo government has been fixated on painting its immediate predecessor in the blackest of all colours just as it had been doing until the quirk of circumstance changed to Akufo-Addo’s advantage.
We heard all the bombastic noise made by Dr. Mahamudu Borrowmia and why the NPP considered him as a “miracle” to ditch the NDC. It all happened to put Team Akufo-Addo in power.
The expectations? Something drastically different to take Ghana out of the woods. But what has happened thus far doesn’t confirm the boasts that Team Akufo-Addo has anything new to ‘redeem” Ghana.
A cursory look at its performance (as far as managing the economy is concerned) reveals a saddening spectacle of “copycatting”:
- Borrowing from the very institutions that they had condemned the Mahama administration of snuggling to for Ghana’s doom;
- Eating back their own vomit as far as dealings with the World Bank and the IMF are concerned. They had vowed to abrogate everything with such institutions only to turn round to do otherwise;
- Rushing to China for huge loans that haven’t materialized and won’t do so because the Chinese authorities aren’t willing to be toyed with (The much-hyped billions of Dollars from China are now elusive. None in government is talking about it any more, even though much of Team Akufo-Addo’s agenda is hinged on such expected largesse. China is no father Christmas, as it proved to the Mills government, the Mahama one, and this Akufo-Addo one. So, what is new?);
- Government’s own policies speak volumes. Nothing new. The well-trodden path is obvious:
— Borrowing from the banks to cushion government business;
— issuing bonds (even in disgrace, as is clear in the 2.25 billion Dollar Kenbond scam);
— squeezing the commercial banks for leverage, etc.
- Borrowing Dollars from the banking sector to inject into the national economy with the view to artificially “taming” the US Dollar so it doesn’t drag the Ghanaian Cedi on a rough road. it has worked, as we are being told now.
- No factory is being supported; the mining sector is fast declining; the industrial sector remains doomed; and the private sector is still sagging onto its knees despite the huge promises made at the first reading of the budget to uplift it (If you doubt it, go and ask the Abossey Okai spare parts dealers and importers at the ports to whom the so-called tax rebates have ended up being the noose staring at them).
And there are many more. No development project going on to prove to the people that this kind of government has their interests at heart. it’s all about self-gratification and empty threats to jail political opponents on their minds as saboteurs. No country can be developed this way.
Just doing anything in desperation to appear to be solving problems where, indeed, the opposite is clear: that the government is bereft of ideas to do better than its predecessors.
We are even not talking about management of the country’s natural and human resources. What new policies has Team Akufo-Addo put in place?
(Don’t refer me to the fight against “galamsey” because Akufo-Addo has his own credibility problems rooted therein. You may care to find out why the illiterate Wontumi would hate ex-President Mahama to the marrow for taking drastic action against his illegal mining activities or why he hasn’t said a single word when Akufo-Addo went further to clamp down on what he would have been profiting from. No word from Wontumi on Akufo-Addo’s clamping down on “galamsey”.
Yet, there is jubilation in the NPP camp at the action taken against Ibrahim Mahama in his pursuit of the bauxite deposits in the Nyinahin area, which he is duly entitled to by virtue of the legal and contractual arrangements). A government of this sort that narrowly functions on the basis of vindictiveness won’t inspire patriotism.
Neither should you talk about agriculture because Team Akufo-Addo hasn’t added any value to that sector. Or the promise of “one village, one dame or one district one factory” These are tactically deceptive ploys.). What else?
Let’s not waste words. I just want someone close to Team Akufo-Addo to tell me what exactly the government has initiated to solve the economic problems that differs from what we have already been exposed to. Then, we can redefine how we assess its performance. For now, I don’t see anything different. What I see is a different group of con-artists (confidence tricksters) manipulating public discourse and national resources to fatten themselves. Too bad for Ghana.
Not until anything emerges to prove that this Akufo-Addo government is doing things in a manner that we haven’t seen before, I will remain pessimistic that it has bitten more than it can chew.
In truth, then, I want to be given evidence of what it has introduced to make the difference between it and its predecessors. Then, I will redefine my approach to commenting on its performance. Is there anything that anybody has to offer? I am all ears!!
I shall return…
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