A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Policies and Research, Kwadwo Poku, has questioned President John Mahama’s claims of laying a strong foundation for Ghana’s future, arguing that real economic progress cannot be properly assessed within a year.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show, Mr Poku said while the President’s assertion that he has laid the groundwork for a better Ghana is not something he can directly dispute, such claims should be treated with caution.
“I’ve heard that in his address yesterday, or on the 7th at the Jubilee House, he said he has laid the foundation for a better Ghana to go forward. That’s fine. If somebody says they have laid a foundation, I can’t argue with what he says,” he remarked.
He likened the President’s claim to planting a seedling whose outcome cannot be immediately measured.
“If somebody says I’ve put a seedling on the ground and we are going to get a bumper harvest next year, I can’t argue because I wasn’t there when he planted the seedling. And even if I saw it, I don’t know how it will manifest a year from now,” he added.
Mr Poku said Ghanaians may be inclined to give the President the benefit of the doubt, but insisted that economic performance requires longer-term assessment, not short-term political scoring.
According to him, there is often a tendency for governments to declare success too early, especially within the first year of office.
“There are two parts of this country. There is the economy, and there is what we do today that will probably not show in three to four years. Everybody keeps trying to make it look like we have done well in one year,” he noted.
He also criticised what he described as the narrow framing of economic success around inflation and exchange rate movements.
“If you take away two incidents, every time you leave someone to talk about the NDC, they talk about inflation and the dollar. Take those two things out of the conversation and ask what else that person will say. We don’t know what that person will say,” he stated.
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