The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has described Ghana’s economic crisis as the worst in our history.
The former president believes “everything is declining under this government.”
Mr. Mahama made the comments while speaking to the chiefs and people of the Zebilla constituency at Zebilla.
The tour forms part of the first phase of his 2024 election campaign tours.
He reiterated that Ghana needs a reset from experienced hands to help restore the economy to stability.
“Things were not perfect under my government, but at least, we were making some progress…we have gone through crises in the past, but I must say that even though we have seen hard times, this time is probably the worst crisis ever experienced,” he said.
He accused the government of excessive borrowing, mismanagement of the economy, and depreciation of the cedi, among others.
He lamented that the government has raised Ghana’s debt from GH₵120 billion in 2017 to GH₵750 billion in 2024.
He asserted that the country has, for the first time, become bankrupt and is unable to service its debt.
“For the first time in our history, this is when we have overborrowed to the extent that we declare to the entire world that we are bankrupt. As I speak today, we are not servicing our debt because we told our creditors that we cannot pay.
“All the 17 times we have been to the IMF, it was just to stabilise the economy, and it was never because we couldn’t afford to pay our debt,” he added.
He said: “The last cocoa season before I left office, we produced 967,000 metric tonnes of cocoa for export and it brought $2 billion directly into the economy but today they are producing just slightly above 400,000, so they cannot even raise $800 million to infuse the economy.
“I established two new oil wells (Sankofa and Ten fields) before I left office and so when they came, we had an increase in oil production but today our oil and gas production has declined by 32 per cent”.
“Eighty per cent of Ghanaians say Ghana is going in the wrong direction. The time has come to change course and send NPP packing. It is time for an experienced, safe pair of hands to take over the country and turn our fortunes around,” he added
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
