General News of Friday, 31 July 2015

Source: atinkafmonline

Gov’t too broke to inject $20m daily into economy - MP

Kennedy Ohene Agyapong Kennedy Ohene Agyapong

The Member of Parliament for Assin North Constituency in the Central Region, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong says government is too broke to pump $20 million daily into the economy.

The MP says the government has misused all the monies available to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and that such a policy is not sustainable.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP was contributing to Atinka AM Drive’s discussion on policy think–tank, IMANI Ghana’s assessment of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The John Mahama administration scored 47% on its overall performance over the past two and a half years according to an IMANI Ghana assessment report. The report said the score is a satisfactory performance, but there is more room for improvement before the four-year term ends.

The government scored 36.4% under economy, but Ken Agyapong said, “in two or three months’ time Ghana’s economic problems will surpass that of Greece”.

He said bad economic policies such as the pumping of dollars into the economy, freeze on employment in the public sector, non-payment of workers, doctors, nurses, contractors and the collapse of other sectors are affecting the economy; adding, “everything has collapsed in the country; businesses are collapsing because of bad policies”.

He said government must do something about the unemployment situation because most youths in the country are yearning to be employed”.

Ken Agyapong said there is massive corruption in government, citing the purchase of buses, which have been parked at the forecourt of the State House as an example. He alleged that each bus cost $58,000.00, but government is fraudulently claiming the cost is rather $200,000.00.

On energy, which the government scored 0%, the MP explained that IMANI gave a fair verdict, saying, as an MP and employer, he spends thousands of Ghana cedis to purchase fuel to power generators for his businesses.

He said it is the responsibility of the government to provide sustainable power for businesses to function, yet this core responsibility has not been achieved.