The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama, has slammed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for refusing to accept responsibility for the country’s economic predicament.
He also chastised the President for failing to decrease spending by shrinking his administration, which is having a negative impact on the economy.
The Russian-Ukrainian war and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the authorities, are to blame for the country’s economic collapse.
Former President Mahama stated in his acceptance address as the NDC’s flagbearer at UDS in Tamale on May 15 that the NDC will not allow the President to stall the country’s growth.
Mr. Mahama criticized the NPP government saying ,“The NPP government has blatantly mismanaged the economy, and we cannot allow them to continue to hold the progress of the country into reverse gear. Ghana is not for a few people alone, Ghana is for all of us and generations yet unborn. We must rise like the phoenix, rising from the ashes, renewed, reformed and liberating ourselves from this misrule on December 7, 2024. And this is why I’m running for the presidency.This is why you cast a large number of votes for me on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
“I have proposed a raft of measures and referred the government to our NDC 2020 manifesto for policy alternatives. These measures still apply today because we are neck-deep in an economic crisis. Government must take responsibility for this messy economy, arising from its reckless borrowing and mismanagement of the country”
When elected in the 2024 general elections, he vowed to establish a uniform cap for governmental borrowing.
“My government when voted into office, I will set a standardised limit for public borrowing. Government has refused to cut down on expenditure by reducing the size of government. And adjusting compensation and allowances of appointees and profligate expenditure. And continues to recklessly overspend. Recently he appointed CEO for funerals and mortuaries,”Mr. Mahama slammed President Akufo-Addo.
Mr. Mahama won a decisive victory in the party’s recently concluded primaries.
The one-term president, John Mahama, ran unsuccessfully in the 2016 and 2020 national elections.
Mr. Mahama won the NDC’s primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023, with 297,603 (98.9%) of the total legal votes cast, establishing himself as the party’s flagbearer-elect.
His opponent, Kojo Bonsu, received 3,181 votes (1.1%).
The Electoral Commission’s returning officer declared the results in the early hours of Sunday, May 14.
He competed against former Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and former Kumasi Mayor Kojo Bonsu.
Dr. Duffuor, on the other hand, dropped out of the contest, stating that concerns he made regarding anomalies in the party’s electoral roll had not been addressed.