Opposition in Ghana spits more venom on President Mills

President Mills

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Everything is gotten by abandoning everything. - By:KRISHNAMURTI  More Quotes | Submit a Quote

…”SHUT UP AND DO WHAT YOU ARE MANDATED TO DO”

The Minority in Parliament has rubbished claims that the former New Patriotic Party (NPP)government, and former President Kufuor, mismanaged and emptied the nation's kitty, an impression they claimed President Mills gave in an interview with BBC during his visit to United Kingdom (UK).

The minority leader and Member of Parliament for Suame, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, also denied that the budget deficit in 2008 was 15.percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

To him, President John Evans Atta Mills was economical with the truth and created a bleak picture for the economy, stressing the real deficit was 11.5 percent , “and not what the President deliberately told the world”, he contended

In an interview with the journal after a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, he said the NPP government in 2001 contended an economy growth of 3.7 percent, but applied sound economic management to stabilize and increased GDP to 7.3 percent in 2008, in spite of the challenges at the time.

He explained that 11.5 percent of GDP deficit has already been explained, “the purchase of generators, the purchase of crude oil for the Aboadze thermal Plant, the crisis with food and world oil hikes, as well as massive infrastructure projects the government implemented at the time”, he humbly submitted.

According to the minority leader, what Ghanaians expects from the NDC administration and President Mills is that they continue from where the NPP government left off, than to be involved in needless blame game.

He maintained that it was prudent to compare the economy's performance in the face of the external shocks of 2007/2008 under the NPP to the 1999/2000 under the NDC government.

“Oil price rose to only $36 per barrel in 2001, whereas in 2008 it shot up to $147 per barrel, our import bill in 2000 was $516 million, by 2008 it had risen to $2.1billion , because of the high price”, he contended.

He further added that some high profile persons in the NDC accused the NPP government of mismanaging the economy because some gold reserves that had disappeared, “Some later turned round to apologise, and when we thought that such unfortunate statements should be put behind us for us to help government find solutions to the problems of fiscal management, the president himself has descended into the arena of conflict, accusing people left right, center”

He advised that the time has come for the economic advisory council, together with the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana sit up and show Ghanaians that they would be able to sustain economic growth rate to 2010, 2011, than to “play the devils advocate by lying to the public”.

He further contended that, the trend if not curtailed have the potential of driving away investors and local business men from the country, stressing the repercussions shall be more than what we are experiencing now. “Shut up and do what you are mandated to do”, he told the NDC government.