The Russia-Ukraine crisis cited as part of the problem
Asiedu Nketia accuses Akufo-Addo of using scapegoats to evade real issues
Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has chastised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for externalizing Ghana’s economic problems.
He holds that the President instead of tackling the multi-layered challenges Ghana faces always found a scapegoat to blame for problems he should be fixing.
According to the man popularly referred to as General Mosquito, Akufo-Addo, in his sixth year as President was running out of scapegoats, hence his reference to the Russia-Ukraine crisis as part of Ghana’s economic problems.
In an interview with the GNA on the sidelines of the March 30, State of Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Akufo-Addo, he said: “I see this whole enterprise of delivering state of the nation address as an exercise to take credit even where credit is not due.”
“(SoNA has become a platform) ...to find a scapegoat to blame for whatever they consider is wrong and to continue promising even when the initial promises are not being delivered.
“It is clear, that, he has run out of scapegoats that is why he ended up blaming Russia and Ukraine," Mr Nketia said.
Government has since 2020 blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for most of the economic hardship being experienced.
It has more recently cited the impact of the Russia-Ukraine crisis as another factor that has impacted the economy with the knock-on effect being felt by citizens.
President Akufo-Addo referred to the impact of the crisis in his SoNA address: “Mr. Speaker, 30 per cent of our wheat flour and fertiliser imports come from Russia. Sixty per cent of iron rods and other metal sheets are imported from Ukraine, and almost 20 per cent of Ghana’s manganese is shipped to Ukraine.”
He added that “the bombs might be dropping on cities half a world away but they are hitting our pockets here in Ghana.”
