Mills is not a total failure - PNC

General Secretary for the People’s National Congress (PNC), Mr. Bernard Mornah, has rounded on New Patriotic Party (NPP) for scoring the Mills’ led administration an ‘F’ and posits that though the NPP or any other opposition party has the right to critique the ruling government, it should be done with the objective of analyzing situations for the better understanding of Ghanaians.

The PNC Chief Scribe believes that giving the NDC a ‘C’ or average mark would have sufficed.

His comment follows the grading of the Mills’ administration by the NPP last Wednesday. The Minority in Parliament, at a press conference, examined President John Evans Atta Mills’ two years in office, and awarded him an ‘F’ (Failure) for his performance in government. They also catalogued a litany issues they say point to the fact that the Mills government had mismanaged the economy.

The Minority averred that the President had not only failed in his promises, but has also brought untold economic hardships on Ghanaians.

“In 2010, the government targeted a real GDP growth of 6.5 per cent, the actual attained growth was 5.9 per cent – a missed target. With respect to sectoral growth rates, agricultural sector was targeted to grow at 6%, industry at 6.6% and the services sector at 6.8%. The provisional growth rates achieved are reported to be 4.8%, 7% and 6.1% for agriculture, industry and services sector respectively. In other words, for the sectoral targeted growth rates, two out of three targets were missed,” Prof. George Gyan Baffour, former Deputy Finance Minister who addressed the press conference said.

He accused the government of under-declaring its expenditure citing the case in which “the budget did not account for over GH¢300 million in payments on arrears including judgement debt that were made in 2010.”

The Minority also claimed the government accumulated significant arrears in 2010.

“The government has accumulated domestic payment (that is payment for work done) to the tune of some GH¢3.2 billion or over 12% of GDP, including arrears on single spine salary structure of between GH¢600 million and GH¢1.1 billion), new commitments of some GH¢1 billion, GETFund, District Assembly Common Fund, NHIS, SSNIT pensions, etc.”

But contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji programme, Bernard Mornah stated that though “…the NPP had a responsibility to critique the government ….I think as a nation and for people to be taken serious, let’s not go to the extremes of making such pronouncements, the NDC cannot be considered as a total failure, just as we will not consider the NPP as a total failure...,” he said.

According to him, it would have been proper to score the NDC a ‘C’, adding that it will be the height of irresponsibility if the respect and dignity that politicians should have is watered down.

“Let us be true. Let us speak what is right and what is appropriate. If you give the NDC a ‘C’, it is average mark and I’m not sure that it will be too bad for anybody to say that your grading of the NDC as average is to say that they’ve performed very well or poorly…it will give some modicum of respect to the kind of politics we’re engaged in…We can have our pluses and minuses…but we are not total failures,” he stated.