The Presidential Candidate for National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has hits hard on the Akufo-Addo led government to provide concrete means, by which the citizens will survive than providing free things that are not sustainable.

According to the Mr Mahama, as a government it is incumbent on you to provide jobs for the people in order to empower them be able to sustain themselves without relying on free stuffs.   

“Because as a president, your principal duty is the prosperity of the people and the people can only prosper only when they have jobs,” he urged.

This statement comes on the ideals of the President Akufo-Addo to provide free water and electricity to Ghanaian in the wake of the Covid-19 that many were made to stay home.

Addressing two road construction associations last Friday in Accra, he argued that no government develops a country by prioritizing consumption and underscored the need to invest money in the productive sectors.

“And the productive sectors will create jobs and the jobs will create prosperity for the people. But if you say everybody should sit home, you will give everything free, free this, free that, no country will develops like that. You just assured the people of jobs. If the people are working and they are making money what do they want free for, if they can afford to pay,” he state.

To him, it make no sense if he is invited have a competition on social intervention, adding that social interventions are consumption, throwing a challenge: “They should rather call me, let have a competition on who invested in the real sector than the other.

“We were doing 4.7 percent of GDP investment in the real sector. Today they (government) can hardly achieve three percent. It is only when you invest in the real sector that an economy develops. But I think the Ghanaians are the better judge.” 

He condemned the government for collapsing some of businesses because they were perceived to be affiliated to the NDC, a decision that hurt the nation by worsening the unemployment situation.  

“So if my political opponent have a company and he is employing 500 people, he is doing me a favour because if his company collapse those people will be on the streets.  I have said that I will create jobs for young people to get work to do.

“So why would I be destroying business of my political opponent so that those people will be unemployed.  Instead support and sustain their businesses so that they can employ more people” he added.

Businesses have been destroyed and economic activities have come to a standstill, because of political prejudice and government prioritising consumption.

He said government is struggling to get GHC22 billion to pay depositors who lost their money, stating “You think that we did not know the problems of the banks when we were in government. We knew the implications of shutting them down. You come to meet a problem, you panic, you shutdown.”

Mr Mahama was so convinced that so of the banks were shut-down for political reasons whilst others failed because the government refused its financial obligations to contractors who have taking loans from these banks, hence could not meet the GHC400 million capital reserve imposed by the Bank of Ghana.

He said because of the negative economic actions taken by the Akufo-Addo Government, Ghanaians who thought that they have life long careers have been turned into Uber drivers, Waakye sellers and Kaibab roasters, stressing “it is a very sad story.”

The NDC’s flagbearer accused of the government of only churning what it believe, propaganda while that is not the reality on the grounds.

“This government has failed. The economy is in a dire straits than it has ever been in the history of Ghana. The debt is huge. And the tragedy is today [Friday] they are in Parliament, three months to an election, they want to go and borrow half a billion dollars.

“ And you know the tragedy, our gold royalties that have been there since Nkrumah’s time, every gold mining companies here, the government of Ghana owes 10% shares in that company. They are mortgaging that our 10% shares to a company to borrow 500 million before elections,” he laments.

By Akutu Dede Adimer