Yes, we all know it is an election year and the National Democratic Congress, led by President Mahama, having woefully failed the people of Ghana, will desperately try to lie and as usual try to bastardize every policy proposal from their political opponents, particularly the NPP.
But, we expect the President and members of the NDC to at least show some respect to Ghanaians by tackling the issues on the grounds and not resorting to lies and deception, a trademark of their party.
President Mahama’s claim that the NPP’s policy proposal for the economy will not work is very laughable, and to hear that coming from him is, indeed, quite rich.
If the President feels he has the antidote to what makes a strong economy, why is the economy virtually collapsing under his leadership, resulting in unprecedented hardship, with massive unemployment and high cost of living?
One would have expected President Mahama to focus on repairing the economy after plunging into an abyss for the last eight years. Is the President aware that Ghanaians have had to pay for his incompetence through high utility tariffs, falling educational standards, a collapsing health service and increased youth unemployment, among others?
And as rightly pointed out by Dr Bawumia, how can a man who has collapsed the Ghanaian economy claim that alternative proposals from others to correct his mess will not work?
“The NDC and President Mahama are going around saying that these tax reductions as part of our comprehensive programme of economic reform and our manifesto promises will ruin the economy. I am so baffled. You are the President and you have presided in eight years over the collapse of our economy. If you knew the plan that could work with the economy and be successful, why haven’t you implemented that plan in eight years?”
In fact, the major problem that has been confronting the nation in recent times is that President Mahama and his NDC government have failed in managing the economy because they lack the skills and knowledge required to deliver the goods. And instead of asking for help from people like Dr Bawumia and others who know better, they have kept compounding the problems by resorting to childish palliatives. The forex control measures they put in place last year and the imposition of excessive taxes are examples of their failed childish economic palliatives.
Clearly, President Mahama does not understand the economic plans contained in the NPP Manifesto. And that was why he ended up embarrassing himself with the claim that they would ruin the economy, in the same manner he embarrassed himself when he threw a challenge to Dr Bawumia to tell Ghanaians the cost of the redenomination exercise undertaken in 2007.
In the same way Nana Akufo-Addo indicated during the NPP manifesto launch that he did not need President Mahama to teach him lessons in patriotism, we at the Daily Statesman also believe Dr Bawumia and the NPP do not need President Mahama to teach them any good lessons in economics