Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso, Stephen Amoah, has defended the economic record of the previous administration while criticising the current government’s reliance on borrowing to fund flagship programmes such as Free Senior High School (SHS).

Speaking in Parliament on July 23, 2026, following the 2026 Mid-Year Review, Amoah said the economy had been prudently managed before the change of government, citing figures presented by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.

“As prudent as it was, we were able to manage the economy to the extent that by the time my brothers took over this economy, our debt to GDP had reduced to about 61.8. This comment I'm making was a statement emphatically made by Dr Ato Forson in his first personal budget statement in this House. Go and check. It's not my statement,” he said.

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While acknowledging Forson’s role in stabilising the economy, Amoah stressed that resilience remains a challenge.

He also pointed to improvements in inflation and growth as evidence of sound management.

“Inflation rate had been reduced from 54.1 to 22.9, GDP from about 0.4 or 0.5 when the world grew negative 3.3, had grown to 5.6 before they took over, higher than 2016.

“I will not run away from the fact that during Dr Ato Forson’s tenure, they were able to continue that good work and stabilise the economy. Now I will not run away from that. But there is this issue to consider. Resilience is an issue,” he stated.

He further warned that the current administration has not demonstrated readiness to withstand future crises.

“Going forward, we've not done anything to show that when there's a similar crisis, we are not even going to get worse results than the NPP government was able to do,” he added.

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Amoah criticised borrowing practices, particularly in relation to education financing and also dismissed new policy proposals as lacking substance.

“Now they want to even borrow to pay free SHS. Now they want to borrow to do things that will not earn us any sustainable results.

“Mr Speaker, they are talking about a 24‑hour economy. They are talking about a big push. The last time I checked, big push was in their collate. Go and check. They are pushing. That's it. That's nothing. No results,” he said.

Watch the video below:

Borrowing to fund Free SHS shows the government lacks economic ideas – Stephen Amoah#UTVGhana pic.twitter.com/GwIQ7F8rzd

— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) July 23, 2026