Mahama makes U-turn, admits COVID-19 and Russian-Ukraine war responsible for economic crisis

Former President John Mahama has admitted that global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have contributed to the current economic crisis in the country. He noted that the economic meltdown that has hit many parts of the world has also taken a toll on Africa and Ghana too. In an exclusive interview with Hayde Adams on his popular Straight Talk Africa on VOA News, John Mahama said “I think that it’s a period of adversity for the whole world because it’s triggering a kind of global recession.” His statement contradicts previous assertions he made which blamed President Akufo-Addo and his administration for the distressed state of the economy. The 2020 Presidential candidate for the opposition NDC has always maintained the stance that government has mismanaged the economy and further rejected the arguments by government spokespersons that the twin events of COVID-19 and the Russia – Ukraine war crisis are not responsible for the economic woes of Ghanaians. “The incontrovertible fact is that, Ghana is in a mess due to the BAD POLICIES of this government, which have contributed massively to the dire state of affairs”, he said in a Facebook post in September. Reacting to comments from IMF boss, Kristalina Georgieva, he said “the consequences of the government’s ill-adviced policies such as the botched, insensitive and dubious cost in closing down locally owned banks, unbridled levels of corruption and lack of accountability including the mismanagement of COVID-19 funds, unconventional borrowing practices riddled with opaqueness and conflicts of interest, resulting in an unsustainable debt envelope, costly, experimental and untested programmes, etc., cannot be ignored in understanding the current dire state of the Ghanaian Economy.” Madam Kristalina Georgieva had earlier corroborated government’s point that external exigencies, not bad policies, were the cause of Ghana’s economic crisis. However, in his recent interview on VOA, Mr. Mahama accepted that COVID-19 and the raging war between Russia and Ukraine have triggered a global recession, contrary to his constant insistence in Ghana that such claims are untrue. When asked about Mahama’s latest twist, a Deputy National Communications Officer of the NPP, Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah, said that government has been vindicated. “John Mahama, has been exposed big time. He blames President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia for the challenges we are going through but goes out there to speak the truth”. “Clearly, as we have always emphasized and even the IMF Boss recently reiterated, our challenges are not home brewed but largely due to COVID-19 and the Russia/Ukraine war, a fact John Mahama has been rejecting all this while. His interview with the VOA is a testament to the fact that indeed the challenges we are facing are attributable to the deadly coronavirus pandemic and the never-ending Russian/Ukrainian conflict” Mr. Owusu-Bempah stressed. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: