Dr. Akoto Osei: NDC Is Dragging Ghana Back Into HIPC

Former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning during the erstwhile Kufuor government, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei has posited that President Mahama did not truly tell Ghanaians about the real state of the economy during his State of the Nation Address but rather misled the nation.

The Minority Caucus in Parliament, led by Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on Wednesday presented what they consider to be the “True State of the Nation Address” at a news conference in Parliament, digesting the economy which they think the NDC administration is dragging back to the HIPC status.

According to Dr Akoto Osei, who is also the the NPP MP for Tafo/Pankrono, the Mills-Mahama administration inherited a total public debt of US$8 billion (paragraph 94 of 2009 budget statement), equivalent of GH¢9.5 billion at the beginning of 2009. Within just 4 years, this debt has escalated to GH¢33.5 billion.

“In 2000, after President Kufuor commenced his governance, Ghana was in debt from the Rawlings administration so he (Prez Kufuor) took a bold initiative and led Ghana into becoming a HIPC nation. That is what we (the NPP) are saying that the NDC is leading us to.

“We (the NPP) are not the only people saying that, very notable people in the country are raising issues of the Mahama led administration concerning the state of Ghana’s economy,” he said.

“..During the past years, money spent by the NDC government is repulsive. Ministries are spending money which is not accounted for. During their (the NDC) four years in office, the government in every year added GHC 6billion to our public debt. One will ask what they used the GHC 6billion for. If Ghanaians are to pay this money, each person will pay between 13 and 16 million old cedis,” he added.

Speaking on Peace FMs “Kokrokoo” progamme with Kwami Sefa Kayi , Dr. Anthony Akoto expressed worry that upon the alleged debt, Ghanaians are again facing erratic power supply from the NDC led Administration.

“After all this, ‘dum so, dum so’ is what Ghanaians are experiencing. They (the NDC) forced President Kufuor to join HIPC due to the bad economy left by ex-President Rawlings. We don’t want to join the HIPC nations again but we are there now. The Minister of Finance is now in China to solicit for loan whiles government will be drafting their budget. Are they going for the loan to draft Ghana’s budget or what?” he asked.

“If caution is not taking, Ghana will be in a bad state. We then have to pay debts with any money that comes into the national coffers and the country will never develop,” he warned.

He also alleged that the office of the president under the tenure of the of the late President Mills, disbursed over 600 million cedis under the watchful eyes of Dr. Tony Aidoo who was then monitoring affairs at the presidency.

“Tony Aidoo who claims to be the head of policy monitoring and evaluation at the presidency, what did he do when all this money was spent? What is the main use of the office of the president, 600m cedis which is almost and above the budget of the then administration was spent without any form of accountability. That money, I think is what they used for their campaign,” he stated.

Dr. Anthony Akoto further said, the finance committee in parliament will query the presidency on how the monies were dispensed.

“We will call the chief of staff to explain into detail how they used the money. And they (the NDC) must account to Ghanaians who are the tax payers,” he stressed

Source: Ambrose Washman/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana