Former President John Dramani Mahama has said Ghanaians will welcome the new year, 2023, knowing that a journey of austerity and sacrifice is just beginning as a result of Ghana’s inability to service its debt leading to an IMF programme and its subsequent conditionalities.

Despite the economic hardships in 2022, Mr Mahama urged Ghanaians not to give up hope.

“We cannot give up on our dear motherland Ghana,” he said in a New Year’s message to Ghanaians on 31st December 2022.

“As we face the future with fortitude, let us remember the solemn words of the hymnist, Johnson Oatman Jr, when he urges us to Count Our Blessings and Name Them One by One.

“We have been fortunate to survive as a nation and are lucky by the grace of the Almighty to be alive to see the dawn of a new year. Once we have the gift of life, which is the most important of all, there is opportunity in the new year to be better versions of ourselves and work even harder towards salvaging our dear nation from the avoidable abyss into which she has been plunged,” Mr Mahama stated.

Below are details of the statement:

My 2023 New Year Message to the people of Ghana

What a year it has been!

Our dear nation, Ghana, defaulted on our debt obligations due to reckless binge borrowing over the last few years.

Ghanaians have been confronted with unprecedented hardships never seen under this Fourth Republic. And our democracy and patience as a people were tested to their elastic limits.

We welcome the new year, 2023, knowing that a journey of austerity and sacrifice is just beginning. But we cannot give up HOPE! We cannot give up on our dear motherland Ghana.

As we face the future with fortitude, let us remember the solemn words of the hymnist, Johnson Oatman Jr, when he urges us to Count Our Blessings and Name Them One by One.

We have been fortunate to survive as a nation and are lucky by the grace of the Almighty to be alive to see the dawn of a new year. Once we have the gift of life, which is the most important of all, there is opportunity in the new year to be better versions of ourselves and work even harder towards salvaging our dear nation from the avoidable abyss into which she has been plunged.

May this new year open the pathway and bring us to the cusp of building the ‘Ghana We Want’— a Ghana of opportunities for all and one in which our individual and collective aspirations are achieved.

I wish you all, my fellow countrymen and women, a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

December 31, 2022