The Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has criticized former President John Mahama, highlighting what he describes as Mahama’s poor performance across various economic metrics.
During a passionate address in Nungua, located in the Krowor Constituency of the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Bawumia dismissed assertions made by former President Mahama on his Facebook page, which labeled the current NPP administration as unsuccessful.
In his rebuttal, Dr. Bawumia ridiculed former President Mahama for his apparent lack of comprehension regarding economic statistics, asserting that had Mahama been knowledgeable, he would refrain from juxtaposing his “failed government” with that of the NPP, given that all relevant economic indicators demonstrate the NPP’s superior performance.
He said he has performed better than us and I said if you believe you performed better, come for a debate. But he has run away.
I hear he has written on his Facebook that NPP is a failed government. Then I said maybe he doesn’t understand the economy.
He either does not read the data or he does not understand the data. He doesn’t understand.
I want him and those around him to listen to me this evening so I explain the data to them so that they will get an understanding. Let me tell him that when it comes to the economy, the overall GDP during your government, is lower than ours. We have performed better than you.
When it comes to the economy in terms of agriculture growth, we have performed better than you. In terms of industry growth, we have performed better than you. In terms of budget deficit to GDP, we have performed better than you. The primary balance, we have performed better than you. The trade balance, we have performed better than you. The current account balance, we have performed better than you. Gross international reserves, we have performed better than you.
Dr. Bawumia proceeded, drawing enthusiastic applause from the audience, to address the issue of the exchange rate, asserting that the rate of depreciation serves as an indicator of performance.
In this context, he noted that although the current administration has been impacted by the global economic crisis, as has been the case for all nations, its record of exchange rate depreciation is superior to that of Mahama’s administration, which was not confronted with the challenges of a global economic downturn.
Let me tell you about the exchange rate. I want them to listen because they don’t understand.
When it comes to the exchange rate, we measure performance by the rate of depreciation. So if you look at the NDC period of 8 years, the rate of depreciation was 74% without a global crisis. No covid crisis. No Russia-Ukraine war. No global economic recession.
Under the NPP, as of today, after 8 years in office with a global economic crisis and with the COVID pandemic, we have depreciated the cedi by 72% which is lower than their depreciation. So if they say that we have mismanaged the cedi, then they mismanaged it worse than we have, without a crisis.
