As President John Mahama marks two years in office today, a Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana Dr. Ransford Gyampoh has delivered a damning verdict on the performance of the President’s administration.
According to him, President Mahama’s government has been battling with severe “crises” which has brought untold hardship unto Ghanaians.
Dr. Gyampoh chronicles several happenings in the last two years ranging from the economic situation, the power crises and various corruption cases as some of the major challenges the Mahama led government has had to battle.
“This is a government that has suffered severe crises over the past two years. When we talk about governance, we are simply talking about demonstrations, protests, which are not necessarily motivated politically.
“You can see all manner of people participating in such strikes so its been trouble tight for President Mahama and I’m hoping that in the next two years as we prepare for another election, he will be able to do more to redeem his image,” he added.
Speaking in an interview with Citi News the Governance Analyst charged the President to in the next two years put in measures to improve the lives of Ghanaians.
Economic hardship will erode Mahama’s achievement if …- Council of World Bishops
[contextly_sidebar id=”7EPPxn57qHz5B7OpZlP9LZsWsW0V09dl”]The Council of World Bishops had earlier predicted that President Mahama’s achievement might go unrecognised if the prevailing the prevailing economic hardship continue to linger.
Speaking at a consecration service , Archbishop Ofori Atta said “we seem to be in hard times economically; the load shedding and erratic power supply is having such a retrogressive effect on our economic activities coupled with increases in taxes.”
He however expressed the firm belief that the country’s challenges will be resolved if President Mahama showed leadership in resolving the challenges.
State of the economy under Mahama’s administration
Ghana has been facing economic challenges including rising budget deficit, high inflation, inconsistent power supply among others.
The Private Enterprise Federations (PEF) has for instance described the year 2014 as the most difficult year for businesses across the country.
An Afrobarometer released in 2014 indicated that about 76% of Ghanaians blame government for failing to improve their living standards.
The respondents said government is performing very badly or fairly badly in improving the living standards of the poor. The survey also revealed that majority of Ghanaians say their current economic conditions have worsened over the years.
A series of demonstrations have been staged by various civil society groups, political opponents and pressure groups, to protest what they believe is government’s lack of ideas to solve the problems.
Government in a bid to resolve the challenge initiated talks with the (IMF) in August for a possible bail out.
Aside various economic challenges, the country in 2014 recorded a number of corrupt scandals including the payment of over 7 million to non-existent service personnel and the decision by the Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) decision to spend about 200,000 dollars on rent alone.
Economy will do well
Despite several concerns raised over the state of the economy, President Mahama believes that Ghana’s economy will do well.
In his new year message to Ghanaians, President Mahama encouraged Ghanaians to be hopeful about the coming year and stop the cynicism.
“The new year holds a wide expanse of possibilities. Let us not enter 2015 with any cynicism or sense of limitation. Let us choose to fill the days ahead of us with hope and not despair. When we look ahead let us see all that we can achieve and let us work individually and collectively in the interest of progress,”Mahama stated.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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