The John Mahama-led government has said it is focused on delivering on the promises made to Ghanaians through the implementation of pragmatic programmes and pro-poor programmes in spite of the negative picture the vice-presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has painted of the country’s economy to the world.
Dr Bawumia, at a public lecture on the theme: ‘State of Ghana’s Economy – Foundation of Concrete or Straw?’ chaired by former President John Kufuor, on Thursday September 8, noted among other things that in the eight years of the Kufuor administration from 2001-2009, the total tax revenue collected was GHS15.2 billion, but between 2009 and 2015, the Mills-Mahama administration had collected GHS90 billion in taxes.
According to him, it was estimated that by the end of 2016, the government would have collected a total of GHS118.2billion.
“Under the eight years of the NPP government, from 2001-2009, taxes and loans amounted to GHS20 billion and without oil, economic growth increased from 3.7 per cent to 9.1 per cent. But in contrast, GDP per capita has declined by 12 per cent under John Mahama’s tenure as president when oil revenue and loans alone over the eight-year period of 2009-2016 would amount to GHS248billion,” the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said.
But responding to this lecture, the Deputy Minister of Education (Tertiary), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a Facebook post said: “I must add that I am not surprised Dr Bawumia was this time round dead silent on initial claims he and his boss (Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo) had trumpeted that current WASSCE results were the worst in history. Clearly, the self-professed lover of data does not appear to fancy that kind of data which cannot advance his political agenda.
“Any wonder he conveniently ignored data on universal access to basic education, gender parity, time-on-task, social intervention programmes, scholarships, gross enrolment, textbook-to-pupil ratio, pupil-teacher ratio, TVET reforms, WASSCE awards, university rankings, just to mention a few? Hard as I have tried, it's exceedingly worrying that I couldn't find a single truthful claim under the education component of Dr Bawumia's unprovoked vicious attacks on President Mahama's government.
“Let those who claim they created paradise in Ghana and yet Ghanaians voted them out in 2008 continue to live in that bubble. We have work to do and a nation to build under the inspiring, selfless, humble, visionary and unifying leadership of President Mahama. We will stay focused on Changing Lives and Transforming Ghana.”
Read the other responses below:
Fact-checking Dr Bawumia on his education claims:
1) Bolgatanga and Wa polytechnics were established in 1999 and had enrolled students long before the NPP came to power. His claims that the NPP established both polytechnics is untrue.
In any case, Dr Bawumia should be telling Ghanaians why they failed in eight years to fulfil their promise of establishing a polytechnic in every district as contained on Page 29 of the NPP's 2000 manifesto.
Instead of accounting for the lost "decentralised polytechnics" (as the NPP manifesto refers), Dr Bawumia is rather attempting to obliterate President Rawlings' legacy in Bolga and Wa.
2) It is intellectually dishonest to claim that the NPP established UMaT which had existed under various forms since 1952. See the official website of the university: http://umat.edu.gh/about_…/umat_main/university-history.html
3) Carrying out renovations in 36 senior high schools cannot be the same as establishing 36 senior high schools.
4) There is no teacher's bungalow project at Dambai College of Education built at GHS 900,000 in 2011. We have checked the records and hereby challenge him to prove his allegation.
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