The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Hon. Isaac Adongo, has reaffirmed the government’s cautious approach to economic recovery, emphasizing that Ghana’s economy requires substantial restructuring before sustained growth can occur.
He defended the administration’s measured expectations, arguing that the ongoing economic reset is necessary to correct the damage left behind by the previous government.
“Mr. Speaker, when you inherit an economy that is a galamsey economy, when you inherit an economy that has borrowed up to the roof and declared bankruptcy, Mr. Speaker, you need to do a lot of heavy lifting in order to put the economy back on track”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
Addressing Parliament, Mr. Adongo made it clear that the government is fully aware of the challenges ahead and does not underestimate the effort required to restore economic stability.
He argued that rapid economic growth is not possible while fundamental structural issues remain unresolved.
Economic expansion occurs after a country has successfully stabilized its financial footing, not while it is undergoing a restructuring process. He then urged critics in the minority to wait for the reset to take full effect before assessing the government’s performance.
“You don’t generate growth when you are doing heavy lifting. You do that when you have reset the economy, then the economy will be on the path to growth.”
“You will see when the resetting starts working that the economy will over perform,” he expressed.
He was confident that economic performance would exceed expectations once the reset was complete.
“Wait till the outturns come and you will notice that we may likely achieve a target of more than 4%. We are being cautious because we understand the amount of heavy lifting that we need to do”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
Reprioritizing Taxes and Public Funds
Hon. Adongo also accused the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of implementing regressive tax policies that disproportionately burdened the poor.
He commended the current administration for working to eliminate what he described as “nuisance taxes” and ensuring a fairer tax system.
“They [NPP government] were taking money from the poor” he declared, arguing that the government’s decision to remove such taxes was a step in the right direction.
He also criticized the NPP government’s approach to education, arguing that it failed to provide quality learning materials for students.
“We were in this country when a government refused to provide textbooks. They were rather teaching our children past questions. You go and buy past questions for our children to chew, pass, and forget”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
He praised the new Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, for introducing measures aimed at fostering “critical thinking” and improving learning conditions.
“We are providing enough textbooks and not past questions. And you should be praising us for that,” he insisted.
He further condemned the previous administration for mismanaging funds meant for education and development, particularly the capping of the GETFund, which he said diverted critical resources to non-essential projects.
“The people who capped the GETFund are today asking the minister who is uncapping it, how much money he will make from the uncapping? You are not even ashamed. Who capped it?”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
He criticized the use of GETFund resources for projects such as the National Cathedral while schools suffered from overcrowding and inadequate infrastructure.
Rice Imports and Agricultural Mismanagement
Turning to the agricultural sector, Hon. Adongo took a swipe at the NPP’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs initiative, accusing the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto of prioritizing rice imports over local production.
“Mr. Speaker, we live in a country where a Minister of Agriculture that was supposed to be growing rice was importing Polish rice.”
He mocked the contradiction in the government’s policy, stating that instead of investing in local farmers, the ministry was importing and distributing foreign rice at local markets.
“Please, we are resetting this country away from importing rice to growing and producing rice,” he announced of the new government’s initiative.
NPP’s Tax Obsession
Hon. Adongo also ridiculed the NPP government for its aggressive tax policies, suggesting that it sought to impose levies on every conceivable issue.
“We had a country where the government of the day was looking in all places for taxes. Every least excuse they would impose a tax. They said there is rubbish (bola) sitting at Nima – sanitation tax. They said there is a disease called COVID-19 – COVID-19 tax”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
He joked that if the NPP had remained in power, Ghanaians would have been subjected to even more bizarre levies like a ‘deportation from the United States levy’ and ‘tariff levy’, upon the current happenings in the United States.
He argued that the government is now prioritizing responsible economic management and ensuring that taxes are not used as a tool to exploit ordinary Ghanaians.
“And this is how we are going to run this economy and teach you so that next time in 2058, if you ever happen to come back here [to power], you will not be imposing taxes on the poor”
Hon. Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central
As the economic debate continues, Mr. Adongo’s remarks highlight the government’s focus on restructuring the economy before pushing for aggressive growth.
His criticisms of the NPP’s taxation and spending policies reflect broader frustrations about how public funds were managed in the past.
Whether the current administration will successfully implement its economic reset remains to be seen, but for now, it remains firm in its cautious approach to recovery.
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