Mahama's New Economy policy is a scam – Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

The Minority in Parliament has questioned the rationale behind President John Dramani Mahama's proposed New Economy policy, describing it as a rebranding of the government's 24-Hour Economy programme and demanding evidence of progress on existing commitments before the introduction of another major economic initiative.

Leading the criticism, the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the government must account for its previous economic programmes and demonstrate what has been achieved before making fresh investment and job creation promises.

Addressing a press conference at Parliament on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, ahead of Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson's presentation of the 2027 Budget, the former Information Minister accused the administration of repackaging existing commitments without providing sufficient evidence of their implementation.

He described the New Economy policy as a political scam, arguing that Ghanaians deserved concrete results rather than new announcements, ambitious financial projections and promises of millions of jobs.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah questioned whether the initiative constituted a fundamentally new economic strategy or was simply a rebranding of programmes already announced under the 24-Hour Economy and Big Push agendas.

President Mahama announced the New Economy policy on August 14, 2026, with an investment target of US$10 billion over four years. The programme is expected to attract US$2.5 billion annually into seven priority sectors, with agriculture projected to receive US$5 billion.

However, the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP challenged the basis of the projections, insisting that the government must explain how the proposed investments differ from earlier commitments and clearly identify their sources of funding.

He recalled that the 24-Hour Economy programme was launched on July 2, 2025, following its announcement on June 30, 2025, with an ambition to mobilise US$4 billion over four years and generate approximately 1.7 million jobs by 2028.

The Minority said the introduction of the New Economy agenda had raised questions about the fate of the earlier programme, particularly the number of jobs created, the investments secured and the projects that had progressed beyond announcements into actual implementation.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah cited statements attributed to the 24-Hour Economy Secretariat indicating that, as of October 19, 2026, it was unable to provide a definitive figure for jobs created under the programme because it was collaborating with the Ghana Statistical Service to establish a framework for measuring employment outcomes.

Although four projects had reportedly been linked to projected employment opportunities of approximately 160,000, the Minority said the figure remained significantly below the original target of 1.7 million jobs.

The former Information Minister also questioned the government's announcement in July 2026 of US$5.5 billion in project agreements, arguing that signed agreements should not be equated with actual financial inflows or fully operational projects.

He said the government needed to provide a clear distinction between investment pledges, signed agreements, money actually received and projects that had been completed or were operational.

A significant part of the Minority's presentation focused on what it described as the need for the government to account for approximately GH¢650 billion in public funds it claims the administration has received during its first 2 years in office.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah questioned why substantial gaps remained between approved budgetary allocations and actual expenditure on development projects despite the reported availability of public resources.

To support its argument, the Minority presented capital expenditure figures for 2025, which it said showed that the government had failed to utilise a significant proportion of its approved development budget.

According to the figures presented, capital expenditure for January to June 2025 was budgeted at GH¢18.1 billion, but actual spending amounted to approximately GH¢7.1 billion, representing a shortfall of about 61%.

For the January to September 2025 period, the government had budgeted GH¢26.6 billion for capital expenditure but spent approximately GH¢10.9 billion, leaving a gap of about 59%.

The caucus also highlighted domestic capital expenditure, which it said was projected at GH¢15.9 billion for the first 9 months of 2025, against actual expenditure of GH¢7.2 billion.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah argued that the figures raised concerns about the administration's ability to translate budgetary commitments into completed development projects.

He extended the criticism to expenditure performance in 2026, citing total expenditure of GH¢127.2 billion against a budget of GH¢158.6 billion for the first half of the year.

On capital expenditure, the Minority said that against a full-year allocation of approximately GH¢57.5 billion, actual spending by July 2026 stood at about GH¢24 billion.

It insisted that the government must explain why substantial allocations announced in its budget statements had not consistently translated into corresponding expenditure and completed infrastructure projects.

The Minority also challenged the financing arrangements for the Big Push infrastructure programme, particularly the government's commitments under road construction contracts.

It cited approximately GH¢63 billion in road contracts and compared the amount with allocations of GH¢13.8 billion in the 2025 Budget and GH¢30 billion in the 2026 Budget.

The caucus said the combined allocations of GH¢43.8 billion left a financing gap of approximately GH¢19 billion against the stated contract commitments.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah questioned how the government intended to meet the outstanding obligations and whether adequate funding arrangements had been made before announcing the projects.

He further raised concerns about the use of petroleum-related funds to finance infrastructure, pointing to figures which the Minority said showed that the Annual Budget Funding Amount had received only US$1.9 million against an annual ceiling of US$573.1 million by September 2025.

The Minority maintained that the government owed Ghanaians a transparent explanation of how the Big Push programme was being financed and how the proposed New Economy agenda would be funded without placing additional pressure on public finances.

On employment, Mr Oppong Nkrumah accused the government of making ambitious job creation projections without providing a comprehensive and independently verifiable account of the opportunities actually created.

He referred to the 1.7 million jobs target under the 24-Hour Economy programme, alongside employment projections associated with the Big Push, including estimates of hundreds of thousands of jobs expected from road construction contracts.

The Minority questioned the basis of these figures, particularly whether they represented permanent employment, temporary construction jobs, indirect opportunities or projections derived from economic multipliers.