Mahama Okays Economic Performance

President John Mahama
Many Ghanaians have expressed dissatisfaction with the current Mahama administration which has failed to improve their lives.

Surveys conducted by Fitch, an international rating agency and AfroBarometer, a survey agency, revealed that the Mahama administration has failed to live up to expectation in the management of Ghana's economy.

In spite of the numerous demonstrations and strikes by workers, the President still refuses to admit his failures.

In a recent interview with Aljazeera, the President rejected suggestions by economists and analysts that Ghana's economy was in crises.

Asked whether the demand of cleaning up the payroll system was feasible, President Mahama responded in the affirmative, saying 'Well it is something that has come up because the increase in the payroll has been one of the factors that have brought us where we are and so over the three years it is not more about a freeze it is about making the pay rise predictable over the years and so we are looking to negotiate what those increases will be, so that it makes it more predictable how government expenditure is going to go, but I think it is something that we can deal with.

'We had a problem with the wage bill, we had a problem with reducing government expenditures and increasing revenues.

'Those are things that we have identified ourselves so indeed we are speaking the same language in terms of agreeing what the benchmarks that we must meet are because we believe that it is healthy for our own economy. It is not the IMF that is forcing us to do what we have to do.'

According to him, the country's economy is not in turmoil as analysts have purported.

'…I wouldn't say so. Yes we have experienced some challenges with the economy in respect of the deficit to GDP. We currently are in talks with the IMF and I believe those talks have been going very well and it gives more confidence in what we are doing with regards to turning the economy,' the President told Aljazeera.

It would be recalled that the Minister of Finance has come out on numerous occasions to state categorically that Government was seriously tackling rising debts, public sector wage bill and budget deficit, among others.

By Samuel Boadi