The Minority in Parliament has said the government cannot take credit for the prevailing economic stability in the country.
Addressing a press conference dubbed “ Holding government to account” at the Parliament House in Accra yesterday, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin said Ghana’s economic fortune so far was tied to the IMF bailout, debt restructuring, rising commodity exports and not a re-engineering of the economy.
He, therefore, said the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, must admit that those exposed the government’s hypocrisy “in telling us that they have prudently managed the economy”.
He pointed out that the much-touted fiscal consolidation had been attained on the back of sharply cut expenditures in critical sectors, resulting in a lower borrowing rate, and the current appreciation was solely due to the US dollar, which had led to a reference for massive global investment in gold.
He said the debt restructuring, which the previous government started, in addition to the commodity export of gold, led to the big trade surplus and the $3 billion from Ghana’s IMF programme as a major factor.
He said also in mid-2025, Parliament approved a $2.8 billion restructuring deal with 25 official creditors, including China, France, the US, the UK and Paris.
“Under the agreement, all debt payments due through 2026 were re-scheduled effectively granting Ghana $2.8 billion in debt service relief,” he said.
The engagement allowed the Minority Leader and other Minority leadership members to speak to issues bothering on economy, GoldBod and illegal mining, energy, agriculture, trade, lithium agreement before Parliament, and parliamentary oversight.
Hypocrisy and double standard
Raising issues with the NDC’s hypocrisy and double standard, Mr Afenyo-Markin said in the Eighth Parliament, when they were in opposition, they told the whole world of the need for the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ law to prevent any acts of lesbianism and gayism.
He, however, said one year after being in office, the NDC had gone quiet on the anti-LGBTQ+ law.
“We hear His Excellency the President play on words, claiming that the government was doing wider consultation to see how the law would be formulated in a better way.
“But was it not the same law that they said it was okay to be passed, and again, when the Minority members decided through private member’s bill to now pin them to their own principles, suddenly, after all the processes have been followed and approval given and the motion was on the other way, the NDC through its Majority Leader found a way of using procedure to claim that there was no such approval by the Speaker,” he said.
He said they had refused to talk about the anti-LGBTQ+ law.
Making matters worse, he said the promotion of sexual rights had been introduced into the school curriculum, stressing that this was not an anomaly, as the government had portrayed it.
“When government documents have been printed, circulated and signed by no less a person than the sector minister and through the vigilance of the Minority you have exposed, you now say it was an anomaly.
“We do not accept this, and we hold the view that the NDC used the anti-LGBTQ+ law only for power, and now that they are facing the reality, they want to find a way of running away from it, but we will insist that they act by their own principle,” he said.
Tell them not to lead you into temtation
The Minority Leader called on President John Dramani Mahama to reiterate in Ghana his determination not to seek a third-term in office after the end of his second-term as President of the Republic of Ghana in December 2028.
He said the President boldly told the world in Singapore that he would not seek a third term and had so far not done so back home.
Reiterating such non-interest in a second-term back home, he said, would help the supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to stop pushing him to pursue the third-term agenda.
“We are aware that the President himself said he is not interested in a third-term agenda, but we are aware many of your party members want to push that agenda,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said, “Please, Mr President, tell them one more time; maybe when you said so in Singapore, they did not hear it.
“Mr President, you have not spoken about your non-interest in a third term in Ghana.
Please, tell your people that you are not interested at all, and they should not lead you into temptation. And by the way, it is not possible,” he said.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh