The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has painted a grim picture of the country’s trajectory under President John Dramani Mahama, accusing the administration of reversing hard-won economic gains and abandoning the very promises that brought it to power. Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr. Richard Ahiagbah, the party’s Director of Communications, argued that the government inherited a recovering economy but has, within just over a year, plunged key sectors into distress.
Mr. Ahiagbah began by contesting the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) pre-election narrative of a collapsed economy, presenting data to show that by the end of 2024, inflation had dropped to the mid-20s from a peak of 54 percent, growth had stabilized above three percent, and the cedi had found firm footing. “The central issue is this: What did President Mahama inherit, and what has he done with it?” he asked, insisting that the evidence points to a reversal of the recovery spearheaded by the previous Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration.
The brunt of the NPP’s criticism landed on the cocoa sector, where Mr. Ahiagbah detailed what he called “misgovernance on steroids.” He alleged that the Cocoa Board’s failure to lock in favourable forward sales during a global price surge led to an emergency cabinet decision that slashed producer prices by 29 percent. “Cocoa farmers are losing GHS 1,038 per bag. For a farmer producing 100 bags, that is a loss of GHS 103,800,” he stated, expressing outrage that the government ignored appeals from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference to reverse the decision.
On youth employment, the NPP spokesperson dismissed the government’s flagship 24-hour economy policy as a failure, claiming that a year into office, the policy has only produced bureaucracy rather than jobs. He further accused President Mahama of inflating employment figures, referencing a fact-check that found a discrepancy of some 670,000 jobs between the President’s State of the Nation Address and records from the Ghana Statistical Service.
Mr. Ahiagbah also raised concerns about rising fuel prices, worsening illegal mining (galamsey), and strained labour relations that have seen strikes by teacher and health worker unions. In a sharp critique of governance ethics, he questioned the use of a private jet linked to the President’s brother for official travel, warning that the blurring of lines between public authority and private interests erodes public trust. “Governance is not just about policy; it is about integrity,” he said, adding that the NDC’s “cronyism on steroids” is a betrayal of the mandate given to them by Ghanaians.
By Kingsley Asiedu
