So bad is the situation that, according to the NPP flagbearer, Ghanaians are now undergoing a self-imposed load-shedding programme as a result of the unbearable utility tariffs imposed by the Mahama government, caused by eight years of economic mismanagement.
Cost of rent
“Can you believe that today in Ghana, for the ordinary Ghanaian, the cost of electricity is more than the cost of their rent? So forget even dumsor, it is now yensor, because you can’t afford to pay. That is where we are,” he lamented in a press statement.
Inaugurating the South African branch of the NPP on Saturday at Illovo in Johannesburg, Nana Akufo-Addo stated that Ghana had been on the decline ever since the NPP administration, headed by President Kufuor, left office in January 2009, evident in the country’s growth rates then and now.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, at the end of President Kufuor’s tenure, Ghana was growing at a rate of 8.4per cent, without the benefit of oil. However, with oil revenues coming on stream, the Mahama government is growing Ghana at a rate of 3.9 per cent.
“These are the stark facts; they are not inventions of Akufo-Addo or NPP. They are the official statistics of our country. If you want any indication of how bad the decline has been, these two statistics will tell you all you need to know,” he said.
He added that “businesses are collapsing, unemployment is at the highest ever in our history, the NHIS has collapsed, and the educational sector has great difficulties, and especially for those of us in political office or any prominent office, you have to run away from your house. The number of people who come to your house asking for school fees is mind-boggling, because it is no longer possible for ordinary people to bear the educational costs of their children. You just feel like crying that our country has got to this situation. That is how bad things have become.”
Economic crunch
With government functionaries, apologists and propagandists quick to point to the so-called ‘global economic crunch’ and falling commodity prices as the reasons for the decline in growth of the economy and rising hardships, Nana Akufo-Addo was quick to point to the “boom” occurring in neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire – a country identical to Ghana in terms of geography, though smaller in land size and population.
