According to Justin Frimpong Koduah, general secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), the country’s current economic predicament would have been worse under an NDC administration.
Since 2022, the nation has had a downturn, and the government is currently restructuring its debt and asking the IMF for a $3 billion rescue (IMF).
Appearing on Face to Face on Citi TV with Umaru Sanda Amadu, Mr. Koduah said that despite the country’s economic difficulties, Ghanaians still have faith in the administration and express hope that they can surpass the eight-percent threshold in the 2024 elections.
The NPP’s chief scribe indicated that even without the impact of COVID-19 coupled with the Russian-Ukraine war, the NDC wouldn’t have been able to manage the economy.
“Ghanaians still have confidence in this government despite the economic challenges, because they know that between the NDC and the NPP, NPP are better managers of the economy than the NDC. Ghanaians also appreciate the fact that the situation would have been worse than it is right now if the NDC had been in power instead of the NPP. I can assure you that things would have been worse if the NDC had been in power.
He added, “Even without any COVID-19 or Russian-Ukraine war, they [NDC] wouldn’t have been able to manage the economy well. We saw what happened under H. E. President John Mahama’s tenure, four years of ‘Dumsor’. The scrapping of the teacher/nursing trainee allowances”.
- There were many police officers present to screen the NDC candidates for Asawase.
- Uganda sends 1,000 troops to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mr. Koduah called on Ghanaians to exercise restraint assuring that the country will come out of the challenges soon.
He said Ghana had been touted as the fast-growing economy until COVID-19.
“Ghana was touted as the fast-growing economy in the world until COVID-19. At the end of the day, we will come out of the challenges, unlike the NDC which told Ghanaians that children should stay home and not be allowed to go to school during COVID-19. When we discovered oil, they termed it as coconut oil ‘adwengu’. The same NDC told Ghanaians that free SHS is not possible. Can you tell us that they are better managers of the economy than NPP?” the NPP chief scribe stated.
Parliament on Friday, March 31, passed the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.
The financial bills seek to raise about 4 billion Ghana Cedis annually as part of domestic revenue mobilisation.
The bills are also crucial to aid the government’s quest to facilitate the Board Approval for the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme staff-level agreement.
Many industry players have kicked against the passage of the new taxes arguing that it will kill businesses.
