An aspiring NDC General Secretary Fiifi Kwetey believes politicians’ unwillingness, to tell the truth, is a major factor undermining the progress of the country.

The former Member of Parliament for Ketu South contended that Ghana’s challenges under the Akufo-Addo administration have heightened in an unprecedented manner because those in government won power with lies and keep lying to keep power.

To him, the Akufo-Addo government has not been truthful to Ghanaians about the real state of the economy thereby plunging the country into an economic meltdown.

The World Bank has projected that Ghana’s debt is expected to jump to 104.6 percent of GDP, from 76.6 a year earlier amid a widened government deficit, massive weakening of the cedi, and rising debt service costs, the World Bank said.

“The country’s debt is expected to remain elevated at 99.7 and 101.8 percent of GDP in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Tightening of financial conditions globally along with the fall of the domestic currency widened the sovereign spread by 233 basis points since December 2021,” the Bank said in a statement.

Fiifi Kwetey believes the country would not be in these difficult times if the managers of the economy were truthful about the finances of the country when they took over power in 2017.

“The problem [of the country] fundamentally is the lack of courage, to tell the truth. That is the bottom line. Some people say it’s all about economic incompetence but the truth of the matter is that no matter how competent you are if you do not have the courage to do what is right, you’ll crush any economy,” he said on TV XYZ.

Commenting on the economic challenges of the country, Mr. Kwetey, said “the lack of courage to tell that truth is what making a lot of the problems we are seeing today.”

“Our friends [the NPP] came into office and when they came into office, they lied to this country, for example, that taxation is a lazy man’s approach so you don’t really need to tax; oh the money is here. Deception is grand deception because they believe that you can deceive the people and take power and deceive them and keep power.

Because they don’t love the country enough to understand that if you love a country, you need to have the courage, to tell the truth. Even if some of them may be angry. At least, tell the truth. Your children prefer for you to tell them the truth than to lie to them and later on crush everything,” he added.

He said the NPP lied about taxation and borrowing to win power yet borrowed “far more than any country in the history of our country.”

Currently, the dollar has hit the ¢11 to $1 mark as some forex bureaus in parts of Accra are selling a dollar at an average of ¢11.2 on Saturday, October 8, 2022.

The demand for the dollar keeps surging, as there are very few dollars in circulation amid soaring inflation in the country.