Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a former Deputy Minister of Information, has stated that Kennedy Agyapong of Assin Central, harmed Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s effort to win the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer race by criticizing how the economy has been run.
Kennedy Agyapong blasted the administration for mismanaging the local currency and he claimed that as of March 2022, he had $40 million in Cedi equivalent, but as a result of the Cedi’s depreciation by August of the same year, the value had fallen to $16 million.
Although Kennedy Agyapong did not mention any name, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who is also the head of the economic management team and an aspiring flagbearer of the NPP is usually blamed for the poor performance of the Cedi against the major trading ones, especially the Dollar.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu commenting on the subject, said that “Kennedy Agyapong shreds Bawumia’s campaign and calls him out over his destruction of the Ghanaian economy.”
However, Richard Ahiagbah, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Director of Communications, retorted that the economy is steadily improving. He said that the rate of inflation is reducing and that fuel costs have also leveled out.
“4.2% first-quarter economic growth is 0.2% higher than the African Development Banks’ overall 4% projection for the 2023 & 2024 fiscal years, and 1.5% higher than the 2.7% global projection for the 2023 fiscal year.
“Inflation and fuel prices are holding relatively stable showing that economic recovery is moving in the right direction. We humbly appeal to Ghanaians to continue to support the government’s recovery efforts. It is getting better!”
Richard Ahiagbah
Yet, according to Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a private attorney, the government did a poor job of controlling the economy. He claimed that rather than the government resolving issues for the people, Ghanaians now had to deal with the Akufo-Addo administration.
While participating in a discussion about the criticism Kennedy Agaypong had leveled at the government over the state of the economy, Edudzi stated, “The economy was struggling before Covid.”
Bawumia’s Performance Should Be Measured From 2017
Andrew Egyapa Mercer, a member of parliament representing Sekondi, advised people to consider Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s whole tenure as Vice President, while evaluating his effectiveness as the head of economic management.
According to Egyapa Mercer, Dr. Bawumia oversaw an economy that expanded on average by 7% in 2017 and 2018.
On Monday, July 17, in response to accusations regarding the Vice President by Kennedy Agyapong over the management of the economy, he replied, “If you are measuring him, you need to start from 2017 and 2018 to date.”
Moreover, he accepted that it is true that exogenous causes, for which the Vice President claimed no responsibility, had contributed to Ghana’s economy’s recent difficulties.
“Dr Bawumia was superintending over an economy that was growing 7 percent on average 2017, 2018 and 2019 and so in 2020, what happened? [Kennedy Agyapong] can have his opinion but the Ghanaian people and delegates will look at the entire situation and recognize that 2020, and 2021 were outliers and what caused those outliers?
“They recognize the issues that have taken us to where we are, that are not attributed to Bawumia. That is not to say that he is reneging on his duties. He did not bring covid and if you think covid did not have an impact on the economy, that is your beef. He stands tall and he is the one to help us break the 8.”
Andrew Egyapa Mercer
