Political Marketing lecturer, Dr. Kobby Mensah, has described the Vice President’s address on the state of the economy as one that tried to paint a picture of the economy that didn’t exist to Ghanaians.
Commenting on Dr. Bawumia’s address, Dr. Mensah insinuated the Vice President did not do justice to the expectation of the people and also to his own narrative of strengthening the economy. He averred that the Vice President was struggling to convince the audience that all was well when it truly isn’t.
“You could realize that he was tensed to try and paint a picture that frankly did not exist. And you could see from his tone, his physiological posture and from the audiences own responses. I mean there were glitches in his tone and pace, there were times where he tried as much to even convince the whole audience to actually clap or to applaud what he was trying to say but they were not [forth] coming.”
Dr. Kobby Mensah
According to Dr. Kobby Mensah, the Vice President’s addition to the conversation on the state of the economy was amounting to excess information since the same stance has been taken by others in government. However, he indicated that Dr. Bawumia speaking on the economic state was due to the urge from the public to hear his position, particularly on the E-levy because of some utterances he made in the past.
“I felt that when the Finance Minister had spoken and obviously the President had spoken, they had already iterated government’s position on the economy. Now, obviously, he also felt the urge perhaps, to come and clarify that but in an extended form which he called the state of the economy.”
Dr. Kobby Mensah
Veep not talking on E-levy, deliberate
Touching on the Vice President’s refusal to speak on the E-levy, Dr. Mensah posited that it was deliberate on the side of Dr. Bawumia. According to him, the Vice President couldn’t say anything different because he speaks in government’s position since he is a part and parcel of the government as such, couldn’t take on any different position.
“The expectation of people was about the E-levy because he in the past had contradicted what the administration is doing now. And so, if anything different comes from him, how does he justify it? “
Dr. Kobby Mensah
The Lecturer asserted that Dr. Bawumia was just trying to anchor his message on certain “so called” realities that could make him look good.
“He anchored on Russia-Ukraine, COVID and then of course, anchored on NDC’s Performance but that’s not the point. The point is that what do you think is the situation now and why is that the situation? Because, you claimed that you could transform this country and he couldn’t do justice to that I am afraid.”
Dr. Kobby Mensah
Commenting on the countless comparisons being made by the current government with the former, he stated that, he is not sure the people are interested in that. He advised that the comparisons should be made to justify its own performance yearly and not that of previous administrations.
“People are interested in the state of play. I mean you said you did well prior to COVID and prior to the war. Of course, if that’s the case then we are supposed to have some reserves just like everybody else.”
Dr. Kobby Mensah
Dr. Mensah further questioned why the proceeds made from the economy prior to COVID is not being used if government claims it was in good state prior to the difficulties. He averred that the Vice President failed to address some substantial issues and also give the public the practical solutions to the problems being faced now. “I am sure that quite a lot of people are disappointed frankly.”
Read Also: No More Charging and Payment of Goods and Services in Dollar and Other Foreign Currency- BoG
