April 7th, 2022 is perhaps one of the saddest days to many Ghanaian political neutrals. First, such bracket believes it’s utterly disrespectful for the President of the Republic to have delegated matters as serious as the state of the country and its economy to his subordinates— Ken Ofori Atta and Vice President, Dr. Mahmoud Bawumia.
After the cabinet retreat on the mountain—The Peduase Lodge, many had expected the President to have rallied Ghanaians along in his efforts to surmount the challenges confronting the country. He failed to do that. Instead, his Finance Minister tried albeit, unsuccessfully to offer a semblance of stimulus solutions, but in time the citizenry is beginning to realize how shallow those initiatives were.
Then his economic messiah—Dr. Mahmoud Bawumia tried some populist stunts on April 7th, 2022 on how they (President and Vice) intend salvaging the ailing Ghanaian economy, but it backfired hugely. Dr. Bawumia failed in his economic lecture to offer proper diagnostics of the controversial e-levy regime that has driven many Ghanaians into a frenzy fit of anger.
Clearly, that is an indication that what looked a rumour that Dr. Bawumia is not in favour of the e-levy could be very true. In the run-up to the 2016 elections, Bawumia, then running mate made it clear that it was preposterous for any government to tax electronic financial transaction because of its potential repercussion on the ordinary citizenry. He continued same in 2020
Perhaps, with his presumptuous position as chairman of the Economic Management Team, Dr. Bawumia felt it’s in order for him to address matters relating to the Ghanaian economy. But as he attempted a prognosis of Ghana’s economic malaise, it became obvious that he is either preparing himself within the NPP space to capture the party’s presidential ticket, or as usual playing to the gallery.
And trust the most gullible of NPP folks to tout the Bawumia credential as perhaps the best to have happened to the NPP and by extension the country. At least, they achieved one leg of their object—to offer an enabler that the Vice President is the best candidate in the NPP’s forth coming presidential nomination. Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia’s lectures were simply unrelated to the realities of the Ghanaian situation; throwing out figures, why the rise in Ghana’s debt stock, depreciation of the Ghana Cedi, high inflationary rate and the impact of the Russian-Ukrianian war on global economy.
In effect, he failed to offer solutions but only laid bare what we almost are aware of as the possible causes of hardships in the country. It was as if that was left to be done by the spin-doctors a day after the Bawumia sermon. How right that projection had been. Almost every political programme on radio and television had been washed with who caused the mess from the NPP perspective. Close to six years, many NPP folks are either comparing what is happening in the country to that of Mahama’s or charging the former President as the cause of Ghana’s woes. Cause of what?
The lead in the obvious deflective campaign has been the MP for Nhyaeso in the Ashanti Region, Dr. Stephen Amoah. On any of the platforms he visited after the Bawumia lecture, his well-rehearsed orchestra had been despite the slump in the Akufo Addo administration, it’s better than what we experienced under John Mahama. Quite frankly, in some of the instances, most of the NPP commentators simply tried albeit incoherently to induce a Mahama cause effects.
Gabby Otchere-Darko in many of his tweets tried to fill in what perhaps Dr. Bawumia failed to provide at his lecture. The sum total of his postings have simply been that the Mahama administration laid a weak foundation and that may be the cause of Ghana’s economic woes. It’s as if to re-enact what Bawumia postulated and told President Mahama in the face that “If the fundamentals are weak, the Cedi will expose you.” That was in the run-up to the 2016 elections. Today, the Ghana Cedi is far weaker than what the NPP inherited in 2017.
The likes of Dr. Okoe Boye, Kwamena Duncan all played along with what seemed a poetry recital of answers prepared by the powers that be to deal with every negative fall-out from the Bawumia lecture.