NDC has worsened living conditions – Bawumia

The former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana made the accusation when he delivered a lecture on the topic: “The Role of Financial Discipline and

Investment in National Development,” at a National Financial Literacy and Investment Summit in Wa.

The summit was organised by the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa Campus.

Delivering the lecture, Dr Bawumia criticised the government, indicating that Ghanaians could not relate to claims by the government of huge investments in the water sector.

“The NDC claims to have put in over a billion dollars in the area of water infrastructure. Yet, today many places across the country are seeing the worst shortages of water in decades. So what is the essence of the claims being made by the NDC with respect to investments in water when, after seven years, the people are rather seeing worse shortages than they were before these so-called investments?” he queried.

Commenting on the health system, he said the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) had collapsed, as patients now had to pay before receiving treatment.

Bawumia shreds NDC project claims

He outlined six reasons why the electorate should reject the attempt by the NDC to hoodwink the public to believe that it had carried out massive investments in projects, since the reality pointed to the contrary.

Dr Bawumia said the NDC had increased Ghana’s debt in seven years by GH¢90 billion — from GH¢9.5 billion at the end of 2009 to some GH¢99 billion currently, an equivalent of some $37 billion at the time of borrowing.

“First, if you sum the cost of all the loan-financed projects listed in the green book (even including those with artistic impressions), it is less than $7 billion.

Meanwhile, the government has borrowed the equivalent of $37 billion. So where is the rest of the money? Indeed, given the resources at its disposal, one should expect at least four times the quantum of investment that the NDC claims to have undertaken,” he said.

He claimed that more than $30 billion borrowed by the NDC could not be accounted for, saying the government had done a bad job at giving Ghanaians their due after undertaking unprecedented borrowing in the last seven years.

Overpricing of projects

“The third reason why I say the NDC is attempting to hoodwink Ghanaians with claims of massive infrastructural investment is that most of these projects are over-priced as a result of the single source procurement method which has become the procurement method of choice for this government, as we saw in the SADA, GYEEDA, KARPOWER, SMARTYS bus branding, etc. I would like to see, for example, the explanation from the government’s quantity surveyors of the costing on the Kumasi Airport runway for $23.8 million. However, you and I know that they will not explain because they cannot explain,” he said.

So-called massive investments

“The fifth reason why I say the NDC is attempting to hoodwink Ghanaians with claims of massive infrastructural investments is that infrastructural investment is not supposed to be for its own sake but to increase productivity and production in the economy. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. If you have, indeed, undertaken massive and unprecedented infrastructural investment, then why is the economy collapsing? Why is the

NHIS in trouble? Why is unemployment on the increase? Why are businesses collapsing? Why is agricultural growth stagnant? Why is manufacturing growth negative? Why is the government having difficulty meeting statutory payments?” he queried.

“The facts, therefore, show that the impact of the NDC infrastructure investment has not translated into increased output, job creation and better living conditions for the people of Ghana,” Dr Bawumia added.

… But govt sees claims misleading

The government has described claims by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the running mate to the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2016 general election, as false and misleading.

In a statement issued in Accra on February 23, 2016 in response to comments made by Dr Bawumia, the government said the latest untruths were only a last-gasp effort to create doubts about the unprecedented investments it had made in all spheres of national life.

The statement, signed by the Communications Minister, Dr Edward Omane-Boamah, said it was instructive that after years of living in denial that those projects he mentioned in his submission existed, he (Dr Bawumia) had finally acknowledged their existence except that he wanted to tread down the path of discrediting them for partisan gain.

Delivering a lecture on the topic: “The Role of Financial Discipline and Investment in National Development” at a National Financial Literacy and Investment Summit in Wa, Dr Bawumia accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of failing to provide basic amenities and health care for Ghanaians.

The summit was organised by the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa Campus.

Response

Responding, the government said the claims by Dr Bawumia were born out of a morbid fear that the overwhelming evidence provided in the 210-page book shattered the many unsustainable falsehoods churned out by him, the NPP and their allies about the performance of President John Mahama.

“On the specific claim, without source, that this government has borrowed US$37 billion since 2009, we wish to put on record that this is false and a desperate attempt to find basis for the flawed conclusions he churned out at the event,” it said.

It said in paragraph 127 and on page 36 of the 2016 Budget presented to Parliament in November 2015, the Minister of Finance clearly indicated that the total national debt stood at GH¢92,161.84 billion or US$24,285.07. This was made up of GH¢54,488.26 million (US$14,357.91 million) for external debt and GH¢37,673.58 million (US$9,927.16 million) for domestic debt.

That, it said, represented the entire national debt since independence, including US$8.1 billion bequeathed to President Atta Mills’ government by Dr Bawumia’s NPP in January 2009.

Weak inferences

The statement said given that his claims on the national debt which formed the basis of his accusations were false, it stood to reason that Dr Bawumia’s weak inferences with regard to how much had been spent on the projects highlighted in the book “Accounting to the People” were problematic and academic.

“Indeed, Dr Bawumia cannot feign ignorance of the use to which loans contracted are put. Every external loan contracted by the government is subject to parliamentary approval and the use to which it is put is clearly stated in the documents presented to Parliament. By constantly pretending not to know this, Dr Bawumia is casting aspersions on the competence and diligence of his NPP MPs who help to approve these loans,” it said.

Regarding his claim that his phantom total loan amount could have been supposedly used for six things he itemised in his submission, the statement said a review of the NPP’s 2000 and 2004 manifestos revealed the basis for that claim.

It said the NPP promised on page 15 of their 2000 manifesto to ensure a “modernisation and extension of railway network and connection to the northern regions”.

It said on page 25 of their 2004 manifesto, the NPP also promised to ensure “preparatory work towards the expansion project to link Ghana by rail to its northern neighbours of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali”.

“The records show that Dr Bawumia and his NPP failed spectacularly to fulfil their promise. The records also show that the railway sector collapsed under the NPP and in some instances they sold existing rail tracks as scrap,” the statement said.