With just 12 days to the December polls, the political parties are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that power is handed over to them to rule the country for the next four years.
While the biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC ), aims to convince Ghanaians to hand it the baton to rule the country, the New Patriotic Party’s Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is bent on sweeping more votes from the opposition camp to the Akufo-Addo-led government, with an eleventh hour economic lecture.
The man, who has been nicknamed by the opposition as the “Walewale Adams Smith,” due to his persistent and consistent lectures on the economy prior to the 2016 elections, which was targeted at punching holes in the then NDC government’s administration, is set to embark on a similar agenda today.
According to a press release by the Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Enam Hadzide, the Vice President will deliver a major address on “December 7 and the future of Ghana’s economy” at Ghana’s premier university, the University of Ghana (UG), Legon.
Dr Bawumia will outline the various interventions and milestones achieved under the leadership of the Akufo-Addo government, and lay out steps the party has adopted to rule the country, should it win the upcoming elections.
Though one would argue that the objective of the programme is not different from the manifestos and the countless campaigns embarked upon by the party, and hence wouldn’t change anything at this crucial point, one would be careful not to underestimate the crowd and headlines the Vice President pulls during such lectures.
It would be recalled the popular phrase “when the fundamentals are week, the exchange rate will expose you” was borne out of a similar economic lecture given in the year 2014 by the Vice President.
At the time, Dr Bawumia was commenting on the continuous depreciation of the cedi during the NDC government regime, which was led by former President John Dramani Mahama and his affable Vice President, Dr Paa Kwasi Amissah-Arthur, who kicked the bucket a few years into the NPP administration.
Fast forward to 2018, the NDC’s economic gurus, including Mr Ato Forson, former Deputy Minister of Finance, and Issac Adongo, Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, teased Dr Bawumia for failing to live up to expectation when it comes to managing the economy. The criticisms got worse when the cedi started depreciating.
But, responding to critics through a similar lecture, Dr Bawumia indicated that he still stood by his words, and the fact that the cedi is depreciating does not mean the fundamentals are weak.
“You will recall that I stated in 2014 that if the fundamentals are weak the exchange rate will expose you. That was true then, and it is true now. It is 100% correct. So, if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you. But is warped logic to jump from that to a conclusion that if there is depreciation in your currency, then the fundamentals must be weak. It is a very warped logic. If the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you, but if the exchange rate moves, you cannot jump to that conclusion that the fundamentals are weak. That defies logic. There could be other external factors causing the exchange rate depreciation.”
“For example, if I tell you that if your leg is broken, you are going to be unable to walk, then I’m somewhere and somebody comes to tell me that this person is unable to walk. Can I conclude that the person’s leg must be broken? There can be other reasons why you cannot be able to walk. But the NDC logic will insist in the face of contrary evidence that since you cannot walk then it means your leg must be broken,” he insisted.
Dr Bawumia convinced his critics that the fall of the cedi was largely due to external factors rather than weak fundamentals of the economy.
In today’s lecture, he is expected to look at the nitty-gritties of the economy and the way forward for the country.
The post Bawumia Gives Verdict On Economy; under Akufo-Addo today appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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