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“Mismanagement +
Corruption equals Wahala” – Dr. Bawumia
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, 2016 Running Mate to
Nana Akufo-Addo, has said that the many
hardships the people of Ghana are facing, is
as a result of the fact that the government
is broke, despite having accrued
mindboggling resources since it assumed
office in 2009.
Dr. Bawumia made these comments while
speaking to students of the Tamale
Polytechnic on Thursday at a forum organized
by the Tertiary Education Students
Confederacy (TESCON) branch on the campus.
Dr. Bawumia while speaking to the charged
audience laid bare the records with regards
to how much resources the NDC government
since 2009 has accrued in contrast to the
resources accrued to the NPP government
between 2001 and 2009.
“In the area of taxation, the NDC government
has collected a total of some GHC 62 billion
in the last six years (2009-2014). In the
eight years of the NPP government, the total
tax revenue collected was GHC 15.2 billion.
The NDC government has borrowed the
equivalent of some $27 billion (i.e. the US
dollar value of the debt at the time of
borrowing) between 2009 and 2014. During the
eight year government of the NPP (2001-2008)
the government borrowed the equivalent of
some $ 5billion (i.e. the US dollar value of
the debt at the time of borrowing)”, he
said.
Continuing, he noted “Ghana’s gold exports
over the last six years under the NDC
government amounted to $25 billion. In the
eight years of the NPP government, total
gold exports amounted to some $9 billion
dollars.
Ghana’s cocoa exports over the last six
years under the NDC government amounted to
some $14.5 billion. In the eight years of
the NPP government, total cocoa exports
amounted to some $7.4 billion dollars.
Indeed, cocoa and gold prices were some 50%
higher in the period 2009-2014 than the
2001-2008 period. ”
The NPP Vice-Presidential candidate also
noted that the NDC government had been
blessed with oil revenue, something no
government in Ghanaian history had.
“Ghana has also become an oil exporter
during the period of the NDC government.
Ghana has exported some $13.7 billion of oil
in the last four years. There were no oil
revenues accruing from oil exports during
the 2001-2008 period of NPP governance.”
Dr. Bawumia questioned why despite all these
unprecedented resources, the people of Ghana
are facing unprecedented hardships and
explained that the only reason why this is
the case is the economic mismanagement and
corruption that has characterised the
government since it assumed office.
“The question therefore is if the NDC has
had available all these resources in terms
of taxation, loans, gold, cocoa and oil
exports amongst others, then why is it that
we are facing more wahala than in the period
of NPP governance when the government had
much less in terms of financial resources?
Why are all the social safety nets
collapsing? Why are businesses collapsing?
Why are jobs not available? The answer
ladies and gentlemen is “Economic
Mismanagement” and “Corruption”.”, he said.
Dr. Bawumia proceeded to explain that all
the hardships and the sorry state of the
Ghanaian economy is basically because Ghana
is broke.
“The mismanagement of the economy has
resulted in a situation where basically
Ghana is broke. Just think about this for a
moment:
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments on the school feeding program?
Because the government is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments on the DACF? Because the government
is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments on the GETFUND. Because the
government is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments on the NHIS? Because the government
is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments to contractors? Because the
government is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments of allowances to teacher trainees?
Because the government is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
payments to nursing trainees? Because the
government is broke.
• Why is government unable to meet its
pension obligations to workers? Because the
government is broke.
• Why do we have dumsor (power black outs)?
Because the government is broke. It cannot
afford to buy fuel for VRA or import power.
• Why is the government going for an IMF
bailout? Because the government is broke.
The government is broke notwithstanding the
large amount of resources it has had because
of its mismanagement of the resources.”, he
said.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia concluded by indicating
that the government so far had failed to
properly account for what they had done with
all these unprecedented resources. He noted
that what was more shocking was the fact
that Ghana was spending a higher proportion
of its income on infrastructure before it
had oil than it is today.
“The increase in oil revenues
notwithstanding, capital expenditure as a %
of GDP has actually been on the decline from
7.1% of GDP in 2009 to 5.2% by 2015. It is
in fact a travesty that Ghana before the
discovery of oil was spending a higher
proportion of its income on infrastructure
investment than after the discovery of oil.
So next time you here an NDC official try to
convince you that they have done a lot of
projects remind them that in fact they have
not. Remind them that the people of Ghana
have paid more for their mismanagement and
corruption than what they claim to have
spent on projects. They should have done
much more given the resources they have had.
The data shows quite clearly that
infrastructure expenditure as a proportion
of GDP has declined!”, he said.
Dr. Bawumia was accompanied by among others,
National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Sammi
Awuku and Regional Executives of the party
in the Northern Region.
From NPP Headquarters
February 05,
2015
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