"Show Us One Policy Alternative" And "Stop The Lies And Propaganda"

A Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations has challenged Hon. Kweku Kwarteng, the Member of Parliament for Obuasi West and the New Patriotic Party�s Economic Team to come out and point to at least one policy alternative in their statement issued during a press conference organized by the party, christened, �Ghana�s Troubled Economy�. Felix Kwakye-Ofosu urged Kweku Kwarteng and the NPP to desist from peddling �lies and propaganda�, in a bid to gain political capital from the turbulent times the economy is going through. �I challenge him to point to one policy alternative in their press conference or any other statement they have issued, that government can adopt to help put the economy back on track,� the Deputy Minister asserted. He further dared Kaba, the host of �Eko Sii Sen� programme on Asempa FM, to read out any policy initiative to listeners, if he could find one in the statement of the NPP. �Kwaku Kwarteng was unable to show you one. Neither was Prof. Gyan Baffour nor any other NPP member�� he maintained. Felix Kwakye-Ofosu made these comments in reaction to a press conference organized under the auspices of the NPP Economic Team, led by the former Finance Minister in the erstwhile Kufour-led NPP administration, Hon. Yaw Osafo Maafo. He explained that Ghana�s economy under the John Mahama-led NDC government is facing a myriad of problems including �the huge public debt; the lamentable fiscal deficit, the humongous arrears, unbridled overspending, worsening unemployment, deteriorating utility services, and failing social services�. These problems, according to Yaw Osafo Maafo, are largely as �a result of the reckless expenditures of the 2012 election year� of the Mahama government during the 2012 elections. The NPP�s Economic Team also outlined six measures the John Mahama led NDC government need to adopt if it truly wants to end the current economic crisis facing Ghana. These include: �restoring fiscal discipline in all departments of the public sector; reducing the appetite for borrowing from both domestic and foreign sources; a focused plan to enhance revenue mobilization but not through increased taxation; reviving Ghana�s ailing agricultural sector; job creation; and finally the appointment of competent people to run the affairs of the nation�. Nonetheless, Felix Kwakye-Ofosu believes that the press conference was not to offer solutions to Ghana�s troubled economy but to only score cheap political points.