Mahama Tells US Ambassador That Akufo-Addo’s Poor Decisions Worsened Economic Woes

The Former President John Dramani Mahama has told the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer that the Government of Ghana’s poor economic decisions have compounded the economic woes of the country.

Mr Mahama referred to the banking sector cleanup, leading to the collapse of indigenous banks and finance institutions, as some of the poor decisions by this government.

He said this, coupled with corruption and misappropriation of COVID-19 funds, which he alleged were shared to party officials, have worsened the challenges.

Mr Mahama said these when she held discussions with American Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer on matters of mutual interest to Ghana and America.

Our Embassy's Foreign Commercial Services led an 18-person Ghana delegation to #Gastech2022 to meet potential U.S. business partners. 🇬🇭Energy Minister @MatthewOPrempeh spoke about opportunities in Ghana’s gas sector and a just energy transition for developing countries. pic.twitter.com/RrYyV0NhSr

— U.S. Embassy Ghana (@USEmbassyGhana) September 7, 2022

Issues raised during the discussions include the current state of Ghana’s economy, regional security and its implications for Ghana, review of the constitution, investment in local industries, and what the National Democratic Congress (NDC) believes is the hostility of the Electoral Commission to the NDC.

According to him, government had almost GH¢30 billion in COVID-19 relief support from internal and external sources like the IMF and the World Bank, “a huge amount, which was more than sufficient to handle any crisis if the money had been used well and not abused.”

He however expressed confidence that following the IMF programme, there would be more discipline in government’s handling of the economy.

“Confidence will only be restored when people know that we are in a programme and that the government will not behave as recklessly as it did in the past” he said.

“We have been very restrained in our opposition because we know the seriousness of the situation. We have been very generous in giving advice about what they should do. But this is a very arrogant set of people who would not want to act like they took advice from somebody else. They have this mantra, we have the men. Unfortunately, the men don’t seem to know what to do.”

Earlier, Ambassador Virginia E. Palmer congratulated Mr Mahama for his book ‘My First Coup D’etat’, which she said gave her a good insight into Ghana. The book, she said, is very well-written, adding that she recommends the book to others who want to know about Ghana.