I don't hate Akufo-Addo but NPP performance has been shambolic – KOD

Political strategist and broadcast journalist, Kwame Owusu Danso (KOD) has called on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led-Government to improve on its economic management.

He said the NPP when in opposition in 2016 claimed they had the men to bring paradise to Ghana.

According to him, the yardstick which was used in measuring the performance of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when the NPP was in opposition should be the same yardstick used in measuring the performance of the NPP in government.

KOD noted in a panel discussion on Pan Africa Television that, the Akufo-Addo led administration has been a total failure, a situation he says should be looked at else many Ghanaians will soon become poor.

“There is a clear difference between what I witnessed in Elmina and the so called approval of major release for economic recovery. Look, if you have a President, and by the way, I do not hate the President. Let me place this on record, I do not hate him. On a number of times when you point out some of these matters, people think that you have bad blood with the President. NO. If we don’t talk about the things which directly affects us, who should? If we don’t put the feet of government under the fire of responsibility and accountability, who should?

He added, “We the citizens of this country decided to change the button and give it to the NPP, and we gave it to them not because we thought they had the magic one but they presented themselves to us as having the magic power which is why Dr. Bawumia in the early days of their administration was very loud and clear in pointing out to the good of Ghana as having the best economic management team. So we are judging this administration by the very things which they said. No one is conjuring anything from the sky. They said some things and we are judging them, using those same words they used to measure the previous administration with to measure them as well. And when we are measuring your performance on the yardstick you used to measure another person’s performance, you don’t understand.”

KOD further expressed dismay over government's refusal to accept the reality that Ghanaians are suffering due to the broken promises of the NPP.

He cited inflation, rising fuel prices, and the depreciation of the cedi as key challenges the NPP promised to tackle when in opposition.

“I watched a video in which the President was saying that we all know what the challenges are and the fact that we export more than we import and the dollarization of the cedi among other complains. For crying out loud, who is in charge of the economy? Who is the superintendent of the economy? Who is supposed to ensure that things are done in a manner which will positively affect us? If you the President is lamenting, what should become of the normal Ghanaian who sells on the street of Accra, who sells on the street of Mankessim, who sells on the street of Elmina?

“It means that we are already fighting a lost battle. In opposition you admitted that, the economic woes in which we saw ourselves then was as a result of the continuous dependent on importation as to exportation and that, you were going to move the country from taxation to industrialization. And then six years on, you’re telling me that, the woes in which we found ourselves in is as a result of the importation of commodities that we can produce here and the exportation of very little commodities then it means you’re a complete failure. It means the President is a disaster, and truth be told, he is a disaster.”