As part of the NDC’s debt management strategy, former President John Dramani Mahama, the party’s flagbearer for the 2024 election has said the next NDC government would create a debt management authority to effectively manage the country’s debt.
The need for that autonomous body, former President Mahama explained stems from the unbridled and uncontrolled borrowing of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government which has left the country debt distressed.
According to him though the outgoing Akufo-Addo government has managed to destroy the Ghanaian economy, the next NDC government would salvage it and put it back on the path of growth and progress.
“The NPP have managed to destroy the economy of Ghana and one of the ways they did it is by over borrowing. Of the whole Eurobond debt that we owe (US$13 billion), NPP alone borrowed US$11.5 billion.
“We realised that the reason why they were able to do that is because there is no transparency in our debt management regime. The only time we hear how much we owe as Ghanaians is when the budget is presented.
“We are going to make the debt management department of the ministry of finance a separate autonomous department to be known as the debt management authority and it will have an autonomous head who will publish quarterly what our debt to GDP numbers are.
“Apart from that, we are going to amend the public financial management act and put a clause in there that caps how much a (government) can borrow,” Mr Mahama said.
He gave this indication when he addressed a mini rally at Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku Constituency yesterday on the phase two of his Greater Accra Regional campaign tour.
This move, the former president believed would help reach a consensus on how to incur debts as a country and not at the whims of a finance minister or a president.
“So if we agree that we shouldn’t borrow more than 60 per cent of our GDP, no finance minister can come in the future and borrow as badly as he wants and leave debt for our young people,” he stated.
Earlier, former President Mahama assured farmers in the country that he would personally take interest in their welfare if he becomes president again.
At a community engagement in Asutuare, he said that as a farmer himself, he understands the intricacies of the sector and would work to address it to bring relief to farmers.
“I know rice farmers have a lot of challenge with the cost of inputs like fertilizer. They don’t have mechanisation support or processing facility to process the rice for the market.
“Providing these things is one of the priorities of the next NDC administration because if we help these young farmers here at Asutuare [and other parts of the country], they’ll be able to produce rice to feed the markets and at the same time provide jobs and incomes for the communities.
“So if we win, we’ll provide you with a rice processing facility to process and package the rice nicely for the market,” he said to cheers from the gathering.
The Government, he said would provide a ready market for the grains by purchasing them to feed students and prisoners.
FROM JULIUS YAO PETETSI, DODOWA
