Ex-President John Dramani Mahama is calling for the halt of the construction of 116 million Euro new Accra International Conference Centre and new embassy buildings for new missions abroad amid the country’s present predicament.
He describes them as “non-essential” projects.
Speaking on Ghana’s economy at a lecture themed “Building The Ghana We want” at the UPSA Auditorium on Thursday, 28 October 2022, he said, “in our current economic state, public funds must go into projects that are necessary and which meet the pressing needs of our people in the communities. Such projects must have tangible and measurable impact on job creation and national development.”
The former President said the public funding of the National Cathedral must stop and further expressed worry about the lack of transparency in its construction.
“Being a Christian myself, and deeply appreciative of the centrality of God in nation-building, I agree with most Ghanaians who believe that the project cannot constitute a top priority of government at this moment, warranting further injection of scarce public funds. Because of the non-transparency of the procurements associated with the project, I believe that the project should be subjected to a value for money audit in other to open the way for believers who wish to contribute to its construction to do so,” he noted.
John Mahama noted the proposed building of Constituency offices for Members of Parliament should be shelved for now until the economy is out of the woods.
In the meantime, he advised “office space can be found within the District Assembly offices or other government buildings for the purpose. Such projects must have tangible and measurable impact on job creation and national development.”
Mahama called for the cancellation of the 2023 Africa Games which Ghana were set to host in August 2023.
Mahama believes the current economic hardship in the country makes it inexpedient to be committing resources to hosting the multi-sport event.
“If it is not too late, we can pull out of hosting the All-Africa Games as it would severely stretch our already precarious finances by hundreds of millions of cedis,” he stated.
Several Ghanaians including opposition parties and some 80 NPP MPs have mounted pressure on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen amid the current economic challenges.
They believe sacking the two key persons will help restore confidence in Ghana’s economy.
Meanwhile, the managing editor of the Insight Newspaper Kwesi Pratt has stated that replacing the Finance Minister will not change the country’s fortunes instead he calls for fixing the economic structure.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana Wednesday, Mr. Pratt said the fundamental problem with Ghana’s economy is structural and not its managers,
“The impression being created; ‘remove Ofori Atta and Charles Adu Boahen and everything will be fine’ is a false impression.
By: Bernard Ralph Adams | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
