Govt clueless about economy — Alan Kyerematen

Mr Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, a presidential hopeful of the New Patriotic Party for the 2016 polls, has opined that the government is bereft of ideas and clueless about how to take the economy forward.

Commenting on the recent increases in electricity and water tariffs, as well as the new VAT on financial services, he said such revenue collection moves by the government were contributing to collapse of the economy.

In a statement to the media, Mr Kyerematen said “the government lacks creativity in its desire to raise revenue,” and that revenue collection should not contribute to increased hardships on the people.

“In the midst of the economic situation that we find ourselves today, it does not make sense to increase tariffs on water and electricity; it is not the best idea to impose new VAT on financial services and it does not make sense to talk about increasing fuel prices, even if it is being denied,” he said.

Mr Kyerematen noted that without doing anything to substantially increase production in agriculture, as well as expand the country’s export base, any attempt to hike levies would be counterproductive because of their effect on the ordinary Ghanaian “who bears the brunt of all these increased hardships because of the government’s inability to run the economy.”

He said the government had totally mismanaged the economy and become highly insensitive to the needs and feelings of the people, and urged the people to start asking critical questions about how the economy was being run.

He said what the country needed were new ideas that would propel the economy because President John Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government had proved that they had lost touch with how to manage the economy and by this lost the trust reposed in them to govern the country.

“That is the reason the people must be listening to the new ideas that some of us on the other side are proposing to bring about the required change in the economy,” Mr Kyerematen said.

He said the people of Ghana deserved to live better, and this means a new team that had what it would take to improve the economy and at every point take into consideration the needs of the people before taking decision that affected their daily lives.

In another development, Mr Kyerematen has congratulated the newly elected NPP regional representatives to the National Council.

“I congratulate the newly elected regional representatives to the National Council of our great party, whose election was conducted in all 10 regions of the country over the weekend,” he stated.

In a statement, he said “in view of the events that characterised the lead-up to the composition of the National Council, we have been able to see through to a successful conclusion. My sincerest appreciation goes to the national and regional executives for their co-operation and further entrenching the rich democratic values and tenets of our tradition.”

However, Mr Kyerematen said the NPP must be mindful of the things that bound them together as a united New Patriotic Party (NPP) family. 

“We cannot compromise on the unity of our party at the expense of individual interest. I, therefore, encourage the newly elected regional representatives to assist their colleague members on the National Council and the entire functional body of our party to ensure tolerance and unity within our rank and file,” he stated.