The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has derided government’s response to the financial sector cleanup, insisting they should have applied “common sense”.
Mr. Mahama made this revelation while addressing traditional and religious leaders in the Ketu North constituency as part of his campaign in the Volta region.
He noted that, although his government were privy to the state of the financial sector, the current government’s resolution efforts were not the best.
“They’ve closed financial institutions. It’s not that the financial institutions didn’t have problems when we were in government, we knew there was a problem but we realized that the problem was a very complicated one, and so, we needed time to resolve it and make sure you don’t throw the baby away with the bathwater”.
“We needed GHS9 billion to bail out the financial institutions that they closed down. Instead of investing GHS9 billion and it’s not money they would have been throwing away because you would have injected GHS9 billion, taken equity in those financial institutions and as they become liquid again, you give them back the equity and take your money back, simple!
“That’s why I said government is common sense. And yet you go and collapse all these financial institutions and now you owe GHS22 billion when you could have used GHS9 billion to solve the problem. You create the problem and now you owe GHS22 billion and you assure the people of their money and today they say ‘pay our money and that is another story,’” he stressed.
John Dramani Mahama
He also accused the Akufo-Addo government of deliberately refusing to pay contractors.
“More people have lost their jobs under this government than under any government in the fourth republic. All those working for microfinance institutions, banks, savings and loans companies that have been closed today, they are all sitting at home. Some have started driving taxis, some are riding okada, some are roasting sausages and ‘chichinga’ and others have died and that’s the microfinance institutions alone.
“If you take the construction companies that were given legitimate contracts by government and this government came and said ‘suspend them all, all of you stop work’ and as at now, work that was done by contractors in 2016 up to now, they’ve not been paid for it and it’s causing financial loss to the state because if you don’t pay their certificate, there is something called delayed interest payment and so all those certificates government has refused to pay are accumulating delayed payment interest”.
The NDC flag bearer further asserted that, “So, there is a lot that is wrong with this administration and that is why come December 7 2020, we must change them and let them go back and sit at home so that the more competent government can come.”
