Over Lies On Ghana's Economy

The Vice-Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) may have gone into hiding, following accusations that he had twisted economic figures, spewing lies and also unfairly accusing the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) for cooking figures to make government look good; but one person who had been impressed by his economic prowess is Prof. Stephen Addae.

Dr Bawumia himself is presently out of coverage area as he is yet to respond to reactions after his lecture.

But the ex-head of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), and a member of the recently announced Institute of Economic Affairs’ (IEA) Presidential Debate Committee, headed by Pastor Mensa Otabil, insists that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia deserves an “A-Plus” for a brilliant performance at the Fifth Ferdinand Ayim Memorial Lectures, last week.

Prof. Addae, told host of “Happy FM’s” afternoon political show “Yeepe Ahu” host, Bismarck Brown, that Dr. Bawumia’s speech was nothing but excellent, adding he was satisfied with the entire show.

The man, who is said to be working on Nana Akufo-Addo’s widely distrusted “free Senior High School education policy”, was among several people who trooped to the College of Surgeons and Physicians Hall at Ridge in Accra, to participate in the celebration.

Many were of the view that Prof. Addae should not have commented on the performance of Dr. Bawumia, especially when he is likely to appear before the Presidential Debate Committee to be quizzed.

“I think that as an economist I will give him A-Plus. He was excellent”, he said. Prof. Addae initially pretended to avoid the usual NDC, NPP politics, but allowed himself to go, insisting that left to him alone, Dr. Bawumia’s performance was first class output.

“Well if you look at it, he is a politician and so will talk about politics but I will not talk about that but his economic analysis is first class”, he said.

Prof Addae, explained that the performance of Dr Bawumia has showed that he understood the economic environment of the country, noting that his delivery will pave way for political parties to do better analysis of the economy.

“When you look at his analysis, you will realize that he understands the Ghanaian economic development. I think his analysis will guide and shape the analysis of both government and the opposition,” he noted.

The NPP has been trumpeting the economist prowess of it’s Vice-Presidential candidate, saying he was the best material to lead Ghana to the land of economic prosperity. For this reason, Mr. Bawumia, was offered the opportunity to bring to bare his knowledge on the current state of the country’s economy.

The lecture which was organized last Wednesday brought together sympathizers of the NPP.

Soon after lecture last week, several political/social commentators and economists have analyzed the speech with members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as well as officials of the Finance Ministry, saying Dr. Bawumia was disingenuous, and that he deliberately picked and chose figures which best suited him.

The NPP on the other hand have hailed the lecture as the best thing that had ever happened to the country’s economy because he singlehandedly punched holes into government’s much touted economic achievement.