The Minority in Parliament has accused the President of painting a \u2018very rosy picture\u2019 of the current state of the nation despite the restlessness being felt among the citizenry.<\/p>\n
The Minority in Parliament at a press conference to paint the “true state of the nation address,”\u00a0observed that despite the opportunity given to the President to open up to Ghanaians on the real factors stalling the socio-economic development of the nation, he failed to do so.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”UXbyLaJwubN52lI2hLjjm58UVzSeMTsA”]The Minority Leader,\u00a0Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu who addressed the media said: \u201cThe nation has become restless and yet the President paints a very rosy picture\u2026 It is sad to relate that when the President had the opportunity to open up on the real state of the economy, he sprinted away from the facts because that is indeed the Achilles heel of the government,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n
Osei Mensah Bonsu recalled that during the President\u2019s 2014 state of the nation address<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, President Mahama said: \u201cour economic fundamentals remain strong and our mid-term prospects are good.\u201d<\/p>\n Mensah Bonsu also mentioned that the President \u201cemphasized his bold declaration with statistics on economic growth. He cited GDP growth rate as if GDP is the only measure of fundamentals.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, President Mahama has not been presenting the true state of the nation to Ghanaians as he continues to describe the \u201cglaring humongous economic crisis\u201d as challenges.<\/p>\n The word \u2018challenge\u2019 has been \u201cso abused in its usage that when in the face of glaring humongous economic crisis, President Mahama and his appointees insist that they are mere challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n How the economy has ‘fallen’<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the Minority, unchecked borrowing and debt pile is “scorching out” critical space that was available to government for real growth. The economic growth in countries in the West African monetary zone averaged 6.7% in 2013 [The GDP growth rate].<\/p>\n Aside Ghana, the countries in the league are the Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Apart from Nigeria, the other countries \u2013 not counting Ghana are non-oil producing countries.<\/p>\n Ghana\u2019s non-oil sector growth fell below the countries in the sub-region including some countries emerging from war situations and Sierra Leone and Liberia.<\/p>\n In 2014, the average GDP growth in the West African Monetary zone was provisionally stated as 6.2%.<\/p>\n Ghana\u2019s GDP growth rate – oil, included was 4.2% and the non-oil sector grew 3.5% likely to be reviewed downwards. So Ghana was the country that was pulling the average GDP growth rate in the West African Monetary zone downwards.<\/p>\n “Mr. President, that is the plain truth but you did not tell Ghanaians. At the close of 2013, Ghana was the only the country out of the six West African Monetary Zone that had failed to attain even one of the 10 convergence criteria,” Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said.<\/p>\n For the second year in succession in 2014, Ghana scored zero in the 10 convergence criteria involving the four primary and six secondary criteria. This abysmal performance has not been seen for over 22 years in Ghana. This is the true state of Ghana\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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