General News of Friday, 24 October 2014

Source: Eli Dokosi

Doomsayers nearly crashed economy but worse is over - Mahama

As part of his 4 day United Kingdom tour, President John Dramani Mahama has chastised doom bearers of the Ghanaian economy who forecasted the cedi dropping to as low as Ghc10 to $1, stressing that those seeking the downfall of the state ought to bear in mind that they would not be spared the hardships should their prophesy hold. 

Mr. Mahama made his views known when he interacted with Ghanaians in the UK to enlighten them on government policies aimed at boosting the economy and to give them assurance that a lot of the information thy digest are deliberately misrepresented to create disfavor for his person and government.

The baffled president lamented: "...When you have politicians talking down the Cedi deliberately and saying that by the end of the year the Cedi will go to 10 point 1, why would you wish that? Why would you wish that for your own country?

“And so it frightens people and everybody’s little Cedis they have under the bed, they go and take it and go and buy Dollars and put it under the bed. Eventually, the bubble will burst, and when it bursts you’ll lose money, and that is exactly what has happened.”

“Speculations on the Cedi was due to lack of faith, and it’s coming back to haunt us," Mahama stressed.

In perhaps a war of prophesy from two well-established preachers on the economy: Dr. Mensa Otabil and Archbishop Duncan Williams, there appears to be uncommon ground as to who hears better from God.

Whiles Dr. Mesa Otabil has on different occasions warned that unless dramatic action is taken economic hardships could get worse citing wastage and leadership failure, his Action Chapel colleague has called on citizens to commit to prayer to implore God to cause a reversal of trends in the local economy even going a step further to command the cedi to stop its decline against the major currencies citing principalities of the spirit world working against the welfare of the state.

Although the Cedi has fallen about 40 percent against the Dollar in 2014, the currency has stabilised after the infusion of $2.7billion into the economy through a $1billion Eurobond floatation and $1.7billion cocoa syndicated loan facility. Perhaps these interventions is what gives the president the believe that the economy can rebound to reflect in the pockets of citizens.