Ghanaians voted for the NPP/Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime to literally punish them - Dr. Naah

I 100% agree with now silenced Dr. Mensa Otabil, Founder and leader of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) worldwide, that citizens can vote for a Party in Ghana to win and punish them with unfavourable policies.

This sermon ‘The Result of the Vote’ delivered by Dr. Otabil was before the 2016 general elections. One could reason that the Mahama-led government then was not doing well enough and there was the need to change to the NPP and Akufo-Addo-led government to experience unprecedented development in the country.

Little did many Ghanaians and l realise that the NPP and the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government was going to punish citizens for voting them into power in 2017 till date.

Considering various sectors in Ghana, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government lagged in terms of the economy, healthcare, corruption, education, and the obliteration of our biodiversity-rich forest reserves and cocoa farms via galamsey operations.

There is highly stark deviation from the great promises made in opposition by the NPP and Akufo-Addo-led team in 2016 to the poor delivery of results on those policy proposals in government now.

The draconian implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange programme (DDEP) leading to restructuring of debts consisting of investments in government bonds is a classic example of the punishment meted out to fragile old pensioners who had to picket at the Finance Ministry to get their matured bonds and coupons paid. The unpopular and controversial e-levy/MoMo Tax is also another fitting example to give.

The DDEP implementation was necessitated by the ongoing IMF Credit Facility of $3 Billion for financial credibility and survival, which was largely due to the regime’s unbridled borrowing and excessive government spending as well as mismanagement of the economy. All macro-economic indicators such as national debt, inflation rate, exchange rate, interest rate, etc. are performing so poorly and being reflected in the economic hardships we find ourselves now. Is this not literally punishment that Ghanaians are going through now under the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime?

In the first term of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government, about 40 financial institutions including domestic banks and other deposit-taking institutions were closed by the former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta without careful consideration of hardships and loss of sustainable jobs for Ghanaians working in the banking sector. Not only did some people lose their jobs but also unable to retrieve their investments in some of those collapsed financial institutions. This is clear punishment meted out to Ghanaians who were otherwise doing better in their banking jobs.

Despite President Akufo-Addo's promise to stamp out corruption and nepotism, he rather made the situation worse by his lack of leadership and genuine commitment to fighting such social cancer since he came into office. Rather, President Akufo-Addo unenviably earned the titles of a ‘Clearing Agent’ and the ‘Mother Serpent of Corruption’ instead, which is highly unfortunate to say the least. This was also buttressed by poor Corruption Perception Index and bad World Press Freedom Index for Ghana under this Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government for the past over 7 years. This was not the case under former President Mahama/NDC regime.

On the part of the galamsey menace, this governing NPP regime led by Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia made it worse than they came into office to meet when the NDC handed the country to them including the galamsey situation. The major rivers and forest reserves including wild plants and animals were not so badly affected under former President Mahama unlike what we are experiencing right now under this disappointing Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime.

The both failed promises such as 1 village 1 dam, 1 constituency 1 $million, etc. and the struggling flagship free SHS policy are a testament to the assertion of Ghanaians being literally punished for voting this unpopular Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led regime into power in 2017 till date.

Ghanaians have the golden opportunity once again to exercise their franchise to choose the next government in the upcoming 2024 general elections. The Mahama-Opoku-Agyemang presidential ticket has proven to be the most authentic, reliable, and experienced ticket to deliver the needed development Ghana badly needs.