PPP, NPP mock Prez Mills over "unprecedent achievement" claims

Two political party representatives have played down President John Mills' praise of his government's success and economic achievements.

The President is banking his hopes of a second term in office largely on what he said are his administration's unprecedented achievements in the history of Ghana.

Citing a stable macro-economy, sound education and a buoyant energy sector, the President said Ghanaians are witnesses to the achievements of his government but was quick to add that there is still more to be done. The administration, he said will not be complacent.

He was speaking to journalists in the US after completing a week-long official tour of the US at the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

But opposition party leaders and some economists have mocked Mills' assertion on the economy and his performance.

Leader and founder of the Progressive People"s Party, Papa Kwesi Nduom told Joy News' Beatrice Adu that President Mills' administration cannot claim to have achieved unprecedented success in the history of the country.

He said Mills' achievement is second best to those in the 4th Republic much less the achievement of Ghana's First President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

According to him, the situation on the ground at his hometown in Elmina and Cape Coast does not show a country making any progress.

He said the people of Elmina are still living in squalor with most of the children who sat for the just ended BECE failing.

That cannot be a sign of success, he said, challenging the reporter to find out from the president the specific instances where the lives of the people have been transformed.

Policy Analyst of the New Patriotic Party, Kwaku Kwarteng said the president must for once look beyond the fine macro-economic figures.

He told Joy News' Evans Mensah that the figures must have a direct relation with growth in other sectors of the economy to be meaningful to Ghanaians.

Quoting from the 2012 Budget figures, Mr. Kwarteng said agriculture grew by 2.8 per cent instead of a projected 6 per cent; the manufacturing sector grew by one per cent instead of a projected 7 per cent; Forestry suffered a negative growth of -14 per cent instead of a projected 4.8 per cent.

He said if the good figures do not create jobs for the people then they are worthless.

An economist Theophilus Richardson described as untrue the assertion that the current inflationary rate of 8.6 per cent is unprecedented in the country's history, saying, the NLC government attained an inflationary rate of 3.4.

He said politicians must be objective and stop "using figures for propaganda.”