President Nana Akufo-Addo is not committed to tackle the economic challenges in the country which has culminated into the high cost of living, the Head of the Political Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Edward Brenya, has said.
Speaking on Dwaboase on TV XYZ, the lecturer observed that although Akufo-Addo admonished Ghanaians to be active citizens and not spectators, he has blatantly refused to listen to good counsel from analysts and governance experts on good governance.
“He simply doesn’t care…. The president is only living his childhood dream that is to be a president,” he said.
Prof Brenya’s comment comes on the back of a shocking revelation by the president during his tour of the Ashanti Region where he said his cousin and Minister for Finance has been outstanding despite an economic downturn which is dwindling investor confidence each day.
Ghana has been ranked first with the highest food prices in Sub-Saharan African by the World Bank. The situation is due to high inflation triggered by incessant fuel hikes and the fast depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the U.S dollar.
Many shops in the Central Business District of Accra have been closed since Wednesday morning as members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) join protest over the depreciating cedi, high taxes and dwindling capital.
Prof. Brenya said in the wake of all the challenges that could be managed by the men Akufo-Addo touted in the run up to the 2016 elections, he does not care about the hardship Ghanaians are going through.
Akufo-Addo is touring his party’s stronghold, the Ashanti Region, where anger is swelling among the business community over the high cost of living.
Upon his arrival in Kumasi, the regional capital, traders and street hawkers at Adum booed the convoy of the president, chanting “we’ll vote against you.”
However, Akufo-Addo believes his party has managed to salvage the country from the bad management of hisn predecessor despite a fast depreciation of the Ghana cedi.
But Dr Brenya disagrees with the posturing of president Akufo-Addo who has declined sacking his cousin and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta as the economy crumbles furthermore and needs a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“There is hardship everywhere but the hardship is domestic-driven. A recent survey shows that Ghana has been ranked first with the highest food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa and yet we see nothing being done to mitigate the situation,” said Prof. Brenya who believes Akufo-Addo just enjoys being called a president.
“His aim was to only be a president and he has achieved that so he doesn’t care about anybody again except to praise himself while the people who voted for him suffer in hardship,” he added and stressed that ” his potential successors are not happy because he is driving their party into the ditch..”
To him, the best thing Akufo-Addo could have done was to meet the business community and calm their nerves while accepting responsibility and assuring them of what his government is doing to salvage the situation.
“Listening to the president, I could see he has lost touch with Ghanaians. If he hasn’t lost touch with the reality, he would not defend Ken Ofori-Atta who has poorly managed the finances of the country,” Prof Brenya argued in Akan.
Source: Myxyzonline.com
