Opinions of Thursday, 20 February 2014

Columnist: Ofori, Isaac

‘Twea!’ – the incompetence of NDC

It is obvious that the ruling NDC has lost the bearing and could not find the direction on the compass of governance. Recent events and happenings give a clear indication that the ruling NDC cannot find the correct hole to put the peg in. The economic situation in recent times could be described as one of the hardest since independence. It is laudable to hold the NDC responsible for such an economic mess. More monies have passed through the economic borders without check and corrupt politicians and public officials find the current system and trend flexible to loot and share.

Financial misapplication and misappropriation seem to be the order of the day under this government. There is no doubt that things have gotten to where they are now. So far the government has not given any good reasons for why the cedi is depreciating against the dollar and the rest of the foreign currencies and why inflation is constantly rising. We only heard Bank of Ghana is putting measures in place to arrest the situation. These are short term measures and many economists doubt their feasibility in the short term.

Notwithstanding, some pastors are also praying to rescue the cedi. It is very pathetic for our economic handlers to be careless for us to come this far. What is particularly lamentable is the fact that many ordinary Ghanaians have fallen victims to the hardships this mess has brought. Many are predicting doom for Ghana if the managers of the economy do not take caution and rest on their oars. The many frustrations which have characterized the economy have reflected in the “Twea” confession by one DCE. It is an incontrovertible fact that the system breakdown is as a result of the inefficiency and incompetence of the NDC.

The government runs from responsibility and shifts the blame on world economic situation. This has left many people disappointed because they knew they voted NDC to bring solution to many problems that confront us. The government has been criticized for its overspending which leaves huge deficit every year. The deficit hike of 2012 was unprecedented and many economists trace the current economic rambling to that. Their edge is to win elections and not to fix problems; shifting blames on world economy and their predecessors is a glare loss of gear. They are bereft of ideas as well as competent men and women to fix the downtrend. In their frustration they remark ‘twea’ ‘who said we cannot run the economy?’. Meanwhile in reality everything shows that they cannot possibly find the direction to a possible destination.

Though we hope that this could be fixed, confidence in government is very low as track record has proven otherwise in this 5-6years of NDC governance. If NDC could not take responsibility and take the bull by the horn then their inefficiency and incompetence will continue to bring them more frustrations and will have little or no chances of winning elections in this country. Ghanaians will not forgive them if they strangle the economy to affect the future generation.

God bless our homeland Ghana.

Isaac Ofori, BA.