The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale North Alhassan Suhuyini, has touted the economic management prowess of former President and National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer for the 2024 elections, John Dramani Mahama.
According to him, available fiscal records put the NDC leader ahead of his main contender for the 2024 polls, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Speaking on Metro TV’s current affairs programme, ‘Good Morning Ghana’ on Thursday, February 15 2024 the Tamale North legislator listed several areas of the economy where John Mahama distinguished himself better than Vice President Bawumia.
The MP said, although the former President was not an economist, Ghana achieved the best fiscal indicators when he (Mahama) was Vice President and Chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT) between 2009-2012.
Mr. Suhuyini explained that it was under John Mahama’s leadership at the EMT that Ghana became the fastest-growing economy in the world, secured single-digit inflation for the longest time in the nation’s history, reduced the debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to less than 60% before losing the 2016 elections to the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“This election is going to be about experience, it is going to be about the one you can trust, we cannot afford a try-and-error leader at this point,” the MP stated.
The NDC MP warned that considering the economic woes the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government had plunged the nation into, circumspection was needed in determining who leads Ghana after the 2024 polls.
He added that John Mahama has the magic wand in taking the country out of the current economic doldrums.
Mr. Suhuyini noted that although the Mahama administration inherited an old-aged power crisis popularly known as ‘dumsor’ he (Mahama} made sure that there were huge investments in the sector and this eliminated the problem by the time he exited office in January 2017.
“He inherited the electricity problem known as ‘dumsor’. He did not blame anybody, he stood before the people of Ghana and promised to fix it and by the time he left office, he did. He increased our generation capacity which is not in doubt,” the Tamale North MP said.
In contrast, a co-panel member and former NPP MP for Okaikwei North, Fuesini Issah, said the growth of the economy under the erstwhile Mahama administration was rather influenced by Foreign Direct Investments and growth within the oil/gas sector.
“It is true in 2011 our economy grew by 14% unprecedented. It was at the advent of the first oil. It was the level of FDIs that have come into the system to propel the growth,” the former lawmaker stated.
Ghanaians go to polls in December 2024 to elect a president and 275 Members of Parliament.
The Vice President has been described by many NPP faithful as an economic ‘messiah or Wizkid.’
While the issues of the economy have been central points in the previous elections it appears his leadership as flagbearer of the NPP will court intense discourse on the subject ahead of this year’s elections.
Source: universalnewsgh.com