The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, has declared that President John Dramani Mahama has every right to lament over the state of the nation, citing the near-total collapse of Ghana’s economy and institutions under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration.
The Majority leader justified what the Minority caucus have described as complaints and lamentations of President Mahama rather than a message on the state of the nation.
A collapse Ghana
Concluding debate on the Motion to thank the President for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Friday, Mahama Ayariga stressed the stark contrast between the economic conditions in 2016 and 2024.
He said, “In 2016, when John Dramani Mahama was leaving office, one U.S. dollar was equivalent to four Ghana cedis. In 2024, one U.S. dollar is equivalent to 15 Ghana cedis, and some days, it even goes beyond that. The cedi has depreciated by over 250%,” the Majority Leader stated.
“So, Mr. Speaker, these are the statistics. Why would President Mahama not lament?”
Drawing a biblical analogy, the Majority Leader compared Ghana’s current state to the destruction of Jerusalem, as described in the Book of Lamentations.
“When John Dramani Mahama handed over the country to you and, in eight years, he comes back to see a near-total collapse of the Ghanaian state, definitely he has a right to lament.”
“We will lament because the economy has collapsed. We will lament because the cocoa sector has collapsed. We will lament because the banking sector has collapsed. We will lament because almost every institution, including ECG, has collapsed,” he stressed.
Mahama Ayariga emphasized that every state institution is witnessing negative growth and is heavily indebted, adding, “When you meet a country in such a condition, why won’t you lament? Would it not be right to lament? Mr. Speaker, there is every basis for us to lament.”
The Majority leader argued that President Mahama’s address was a reflection of the harsh realities Ghanaians already knew.
According to him, even before the President presented the SONA, these statistics were known to ordinary Ghanaians even before the elections.
Afrobarometer report
Citing the Afrobarometer report, Hon. Ayariga revealed alarming statistics about public perception of corruption and economic mismanagement.
He said, “77% of Ghanaians said that corruption had increased significantly in 2024. Analysts estimated that we were losing close to $3 billion to corruption, even though we had gone to the IMF for a bailout of the same amount. All we needed was not to go to the IMF but to fix corruption.”
“The report also indicated that 71.7% of Ghanaians believed the president and his officials were corrupt in 2024, while 87% thought the country was headed in the wrong direction. Additionally, the number of Ghanaians considering emigration rose from 20% in 2017 to 44% in 2024.”
“We witnessed long queues at embassies, with young, highly talented, and educated Ghanaians doing everything they could to leave their country.”
According to him, the economic woes were further underscored by the fact that 68.6% of Ghanaians rated the country’s economic condition as “very bad” in 2022, with 50% unemployed despite actively searching for work.
“Even 48% of Ghanaians were beginning to doubt democracy, believing it was not working for them,” he added.
The Majority Leader stressed, “When you leave your kraal in the care of the hyena and you travel, don’t be surprised if all the cattle get missing when you return. And when that happens, you have nothing to do but lament.”
“The NDC handed over Ghana to the NPP. Eight years down the line, what did we see? A country broken on all fronts.”
By Osumanu Al-Hassan/thenewsbulletin24.com