BBC’s Peter Okwoche tags Ghana’s economy as performing horribly
Dr Dr Kobby Mensah tags Akufo-Addo’s BBC interview as ‘epic’
A Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Kobby Mensah, has noted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was without some of his usual elements in his recent interview with the BBC.
According Dr Mensah, the usual coherence and buoyant mood that characterised the president before he won the 2016 presidential elections, were missing during his recent sit-down interview with BBC’s Peter Okwoche.
“I just listened to my President’s BBC interview, and I must say, respectfully, that he was less coherent, fluent and buoyant than he was before the 2016 elections. That interview was epic,” he stated in a Tweet sighted by GhanaWeb.
President Akufo-Addo, on Monday, March 4, 2022, appeared on BBC’s Focus on Africa to discuss a myriad of topics around Ghana and his governance of the nation.
The president’s conversation with the BBC covered various sectors of the Ghanaian economy and recent occurrences in the socio-political space of the country.
In what turned to be a banter between the host and the president, Peter Okwoche tagged the Ghanaian economy as performing ‘horribly’ under the watch of President Akufo-Addo.
However, the president maintained that his government, until about two years ago and influenced by recent global occurrences, was doing creditably well in terms of the management of Ghana’s economy.
The president noted that Ghana has not been isolated from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Russia-Ukraine war which has had its effect felt by every economy in the world.
“Where would you put your money today? In Britain, which is suffering the worst standard of living statistics for over 30 years?... Let’s situate ourselves correctly. The world is going through very difficult times. Ghana is no exception. Nigeria is no exception. There’s no country in the world that is escaping the ravages of both COVID-19 and also the impact of the Ukraine (Russia war),” he stated.
He noted that despite the current situation, his government has put in place an effective recovery plan that will ensure Ghana’s economy bounces back stronger.
But speaking further on his assessment of the president’s interview on Joy FM’s morning show, Dr Kobby Mensah said President Akufo-Addo did better in dealing with questions on global issues as compared to matters on the local front.
He noted that on local matters, the president’s answers lacked specifics.
“You realise that the president could handle the global issues very well because linking the economy to the Ukraine–Russia crisis to the impact on petroleum is fantastic.
“But where I think he could rather be much more direct and more effective was the local issues which he unfortunately evaded,” he stated.
He stated that while believing the president may have not been properly briefed for the interview, there could also be the underlying issue of age taking its toll on President Akufo-Addo.
“As President, I have the inkling that he is on top of issues only that for this interview he wasn’t properly brief or prepared.
“But of course, we couldn’t also take out the fact that the President for the past six years, is no longer as he used to be so we can give him the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
View his Timepath below:
President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday was a guest on BBC's Focus on Africa