During a meeting with members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama outlined a bold vision for his incoming administration in transforming the debt management division of the Finance ministry.
President-elect Mahama began by reflecting on critical errors made by the outgoing government.
“I think that this government made many critical mistakes and many of them I would say were parochial because if they had allowed a little more transparency and had opened a more listening ear, they probably would not have made some of the fatal mistakes that they made.
“Something that I promised before is that we will consult with the captains of industry and business regularly so that we know what your concerns are, and then we’ll address those concerns, together.”
President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama
The President-elect expressed his dissatisfaction with certain decisions made by the outgoing government. He noted;
“If I were president, I would not have rushed to close those, you know, indigenous banks. I would have found a way of assisting them to survive. We probably would not have borrowed as rapidly as was done and sink ourselves into a debt hole.’’
President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama
He also criticized the outgoing government’s debt accumulation, describing it as reckless and unsustainable.
“These are mistakes that have been made that we must use as lessons, you know, for the future. And so we intend to carry out some reforms in terms of economic management to ensure that another finance minister doesn’t come along who’s a law unto himself.”
President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama
To address this issue, Mahama proposed upgrading the country’s Debt Management Office. He reiterated;
“One will be the debt management office—upgrade the debt management office to a more independent office that is transparent, that is informing Ghanaians about what our debt position is at any time so that the finance minister on his own cannot just keep piling on the debts [like] there’s no tomorrow.’’
President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama
Prioritizing Locally Made Goods in Procurement
A central theme of Mahama’s address was the need to transform the procurement laws to favor domestic industries. He emphasized;
“Ghana is the biggest spender in the economy. The government is the biggest spender in the economy. I mean, why we will always easily run to go and import things from China and other places when we have even better quality of those goods locally, I cannot understand.
“Even if it’s marginally more expensive, it creates jobs locally than buying it cheaper and creating jobs in another country.”
President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama
According to Mahama, he is committed to reforming the procurement laws. He emphasized;
“We’re going to sit with you and see how we can tweak that procurement law so that the priority for buying any product with government money must be a product that is made in Ghana. It’s only when it’s not available and you have no option that we can look at external goods, to purchase.
“For me, if we must get all the goods that are made in Ghana, we must fix competitive prices, and we must give a caveat that if you want to buy cooking oil, you must buy these brands. You have no option to buy any other brand.”
President-elect H.E John Dramani Mahama
President-elect John Mahama’s address underscored his commitment to learning from past mistakes and implementing reforms to ensure greater transparency in economic management.
His proposals to prioritize local industries through procurement reforms reflect a strategic vision for leveraging government spending to boost domestic production.
Mahama’s emphasis on accountability, consultation, and job creation signals a clear departure from previous approaches and offers hope for a more resilient and self-reliant economy under his leadership.
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