Since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1992, the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration has been the "most fortunate but most ineffective government", according to Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ajumako Enyan Essiam on 13 February 2023 was speaking about the oil fields the government inherited when it came to power. He made the comment on Power FM's morning show.
According to him, for a government to be given three oil fields instead of the one held by its two predecessors, while at the same time plunging Ghana into the current economic disaster, is merely a display of futility and failure.
According to Cassiel Ato Forson, the Akufo-Addo government has been the most fortunate but least effective since 1992.
As leader of the opposition in parliament, he promised: "We will expose all the problems plaguing this nation so that Ghanaians will understand that their government has not only misled them but has illegally harmed them. To ensure that a proper and accountable government takes office as soon as possible, we will expose all this to Ghanaians.”
He added: “We are witnessing a government that came to loot, take Ghana backwards and damage the future of the country, he stressed, describing the NPP as the most cruel government with no good plans for the country.”
Before adding that every government since Prof. Mills came with one oil field, he said the NPP government inherited a strong fiscal policy. "They came in with three oil fields and we didn't have gas until it became significant under their tenure," he said.
"I have emphasised that the NPP is the most fortunate government Ghana has ever seen, but unfortunately it is also the most ineffective. Lucky but ineffective," he insisted.
Former President John Dramani Mahama made a similar argument when he criticised the government for doing nothing with the oil fields it inherited, but still causing an economic crisis in Ghana.
"Waste of time! We bequeathed to the government of President Akufo-Addo two new oil fields, TEN and Sankofa.
“Greed and incompetence, as opposed to the nation's interest, means a sad reality of no increased production activity in our upstream oil sector in the last 7 years," Mahama said on 7 February.
Ghana is currently seeking an IMF bailout to prevent its economy from collapsing in the face of rising inflation, a rapid depreciation of the cedi against the US dollar and credit downgrades by global rating agencies.