Former President John Dramani Mahama has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has run out of ideas for addressing Ghana’s economic challenges.
According to Mr. Mahama, despite the fact that Akufo-Addo is to blame for the country’s massive economic crisis, the President has decided to use his influence to ensure that the newly elected flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, wins the 2024 general elections.
He claimed that President Akufo-Addo lacked the authority to turn around the economy and provide decent living conditions for citizens.
Speaking to the members of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Accra on Tuesday, November 7, Mr. Mahama reiterated that “he (Akufo-Addo) ran out of ideas on how to solve the economic challenges we find ourselves in. By his recent declaration, his focus and last energy are going to be expended on installing his anointed successor as the next president.”
Mr. Mahama again accused Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of reckless borrowing, leading to the economic challenges the country is experiencing now.
According to him, the economic challenges could have been circumvented if the Finance Minister had embarked on “reckless” borrowing.
“We could have avoided this unpleasant [economic] situation; the signs of these crises were there for all to see… The conflicted Finance Minister, whose interest was to borrow recklessly and mire our economy with the quagmire of debt, was obvious as far as 2019.”He added.
The Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, lauded the former president Mahama for what he describes as the “game changer” policy propounded by Mr. Mahama in creating job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth.
Mr. Mahama had proposed a 24-hour economy, which would see workers engaged in a three-shift system.
“We are also very interested and eager to know more about his great idea of a 24-hour economy,” Dr. Yaw Baah intimated ahead of the former president’s address.
“I think this one, Comrade, you have to take your time because I can imagine the amount of jobs that this kind of thing will create.
“That could be the game-changer. I am telling you. You have the opportunity in this country to work 24 hours, 3 shifts.
“So, if you don’t get a job in the morning, you can get it in the afternoon or at night,” he noted.
Dr. Yaw Baah urged the youth to be readily ready for jobs with this policy by the NDC ahead of the 2024 polls.
“I think, and I mean it, that this is a great idea that was lying somewhere and never discovered, and we will be eager to hear a lot more about it.”
Mr. Baah also presented TUC’s manifesto to the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Mahama.