Election 2024: Record comparison will be key in the general election - Kofi Adams | The Big Stories
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00:00:00 Welcome back on the AM show. We get into our big stories but right before we get into all of that,
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00:02:34 Up next, we're going to be having lots of conversations on our national life
00:02:39 issues germane to all of us. We'll talk about the MPP electing Dr. Mohamedou Bawumia as its
00:02:48 flag bearer, among other issues. The minority has said that until the La General Hospital project
00:02:56 takes off, we see some concrete action. They are going to impede the 2024 budget. What are
00:03:02 the dynamics? We get into that with our guest. He is a member of parliament for the Buem
00:03:07 constituency. Kofi Adams is his name. Kofi, good morning. Good morning. Thanks for coming.
00:03:14 Thank you for the opportunity once again. How is Buem? Well, Buem is okay. Generally,
00:03:22 it's part of Ghana, so everything happening anywhere, maybe apart from the president's
00:03:27 hometown, is happening also in Buem. We are suffering investments, lack of investments,
00:03:35 no interest by government in terms of our key needs, such as routes, things that cannot be done
00:03:42 by the people and which government must lead the process. There is total failing on the side of
00:03:49 government. I say so because the community cannot construct their own routes. Indeed,
00:03:56 construction of routes is beyond the budget limits of poor municipalities like ours.
00:04:01 It is only central government that can respond to such needs. When central government fails
00:04:09 or stops ongoing projects, such as road projects, that were the previous administration
00:04:16 commenced implementation on, then you tend to have your people suffering so much. They try as
00:04:24 much as they can to cultivate crops, both cash and food crops. Sometimes it gets locked up in
00:04:32 the farms because of poor routes to move it to marketing centres. And so that is one of the key
00:04:40 dying needs of the people of Buem, which we continue to struggle. I have engaged the Roots
00:04:45 Minister a number of times, assurance after assurance, even on the floor of the House, where
00:04:51 when you speak it's suspected that it will be done. Timelines were given, but still nothing
00:04:58 is happening. So that is the status of Buem now in terms of development. But otherwise, it's a
00:05:04 peaceful place. It's a serene place that I keep inviting people to come to. When you visit Buem
00:05:12 constituency, any part, whether eastern or western part of the constituency, you just feel like
00:05:18 wanting to stay, even for more, because you enjoy fresh air. Everything is fresh. There is no
00:05:26 pollution in that part of the country. And we have very beautiful mountains for people who love
00:05:33 mountains. And we also have valleys for those who want to stay in the valley. So we have virtually
00:05:38 everything. So Buem is good. Let's also talk about, well, the last time we had an interaction,
00:05:46 you spoke about the Agenda 111 project there. Is there any update? Is there any work happening
00:05:51 on the ground? It's at the footing stage. I think they are now filling what the contractors
00:05:58 would describe as a footing level. So maybe they will cast the appropriate concrete and start
00:06:05 raising the block. So I do pray and hope that the contractor will continue the pace he has begun,
00:06:15 and maybe quicken it when we cross the filling stage for us to see the project completed.
00:06:23 And that's all our prayer. So that's your prayer. Is there something at least then, looking at,
00:06:30 we'll get to the La General Hospital later, but at least in your constituency,
00:06:34 Agenda 111 has taken off. If this administration, the president has promised that by the end of his
00:06:40 tenure, these projects would have been completed. Is it then something you want to applaud this
00:06:47 government for? Well, the reason, such investments are good. But then if a government tells you,
00:06:56 and the leader tells you that it has to take a disaster like COVID to give him that shock,
00:07:07 to want to see investment in the healthcare delivery, then I was wondering what type of
00:07:12 leader we had. Because even without COVID, the person you took over from was investing heavily
00:07:21 in healthcare delivery, building hospitals, huge ones, to make sure that our health needs are met,
00:07:30 only for you to abandon all these projects. And then we got confronted with COVID,
00:07:38 but for the facilities built by the previous administration under John Ramani Mahama and
00:07:46 late Professor J.E.A. Mills, would have been found wanting. And that when it comes to health
00:07:53 infrastructure, the NDC truly stands very tall, very, very, very tall. And we know about this.
00:08:01 And so I was surprised that instead of continuing, you waited for disaster to strike, for us to
00:08:09 suffer before you realized that you needed to build hospitals. But even the promise that you
00:08:15 were going to do them within two years has not been made, because not a single one has seen
00:08:23 any completion. Okay, so you have a point there. But in terms of the NDC stands tall in healthcare,
00:08:29 can you name some facilities you think, or some outlets that make you think you stand tall?
00:08:34 Every regional hospital that we have in Ghana, in the previously 10 regions, was built by the NDC
00:08:44 administration, under Jerry Rawlings and under Professor Mills and John Ramani Mahama. Not a
00:08:51 single one goes to the credit of NPP. Then moving further down...
00:08:55 They are putting up 111, that can count all of those.
00:08:58 The 111 that you have no special funding, that has not been, not even a single one has been
00:09:04 completed per their own timelines that they set. I'm seeing many of these health infrastructure
00:09:10 that they've commenced being completed, or the heavy work will be done by the NDC. They have
00:09:17 just named it, they have just talked about it. I believe strongly that it is the NDC that will
00:09:22 come and find a way of completing many of these health facilities, because we always believe
00:09:28 in doing such things. Today, health professionals are leaving the country. They are leaving not
00:09:34 only because of poor pay, many are also leaving because they are not getting any opportunity.
00:09:42 Those times, when you finished medical school as a medical doctor, there was no way you would be
00:09:49 at home without a job. Today, doctors are staying home long after they finish their work and waiting
00:09:56 to be called and not being called. As for nurses, the least said about them, the better.
00:10:02 If this government had continued the investment in health, in other words, building more hospital
00:10:09 facilities and getting them to completion level, they will have to be populated with health
00:10:13 professionals. So you need nurses, you need those who will be in the x-ray department,
00:10:18 you will need doctors, you will need all kinds of health service professionals. But the government
00:10:26 decided to abandon ongoing projects. And so what has happened is that nurses leave and they can't
00:10:33 get a place to put them in. Many of them have to leave. So you've spent money, trained them,
00:10:40 they leave to go and work for other countries that have not trained them.
00:10:43 So that's the situation we find ourselves in.
00:10:48 Well, of course, under your tenure, the NDC's tenure, you can also talk about
00:10:54 the bank hospital. I actually did a story a long time ago, the UGMC, and of course,
00:10:59 an outlet that was already there, the Rich Hospital, now becoming the Greater Accra.
00:11:02 The Greater Accra Hospital.
00:11:04 With some retrofitting.
00:11:05 With huge, not just huge investment. Of course, when you go there today, what is there now
00:11:11 is not what it was when it was referred to as Rich Hospital. And the phase two is supposed to
00:11:18 have continued almost immediately. But this government had delayed the...
00:11:23 But speaking of which, one problem I usually have, the Rich Hospital or the Greater Accra
00:11:28 Regional Hospital, have you been there recently?
00:11:31 No, I've not been there.
00:11:33 In many ways, it's falling apart. I went there years ago, saw what had been done and everything,
00:11:39 it looked spic and span. One problem with our country is maintenance.
00:11:42 Maintenance, yeah.
00:11:43 So you go there now and many of the, you see walls with all kinds, so many things are happening. And
00:11:50 you ask yourself, how can we as a country remain like this? You put up, you spend so much of
00:11:56 taxpayers' resources, and then after a few years, you should go there, go and see for yourself.
00:12:00 I will pass there, now that you have given this indication, I will pass there,
00:12:04 just walk through and then check some...
00:12:06 Go to the wards, go into the wards.
00:12:07 Yeah, of course, I'll go into the wards. I mean, I'll go into the wards
00:12:10 and try and see what it is that is going on there. But you are very right that we invest
00:12:15 so much with maintenance culture, and as a result of that, we always continue to spend so much.
00:12:20 It's like road construction. You construct a road, and necessarily,
00:12:26 a small pothole will emerge in one point or the other. When it does, what you have to do
00:12:31 is to cure it immediately by sealing it. But when you fail to seal it, because we are in a country
00:12:38 where rain falls for a longer part of the year, maybe more than six months, you may be experiencing
00:12:44 rains. Water will collect in these small holes that have occurred on the roads.
00:12:49 And because you've not treated it, it continues to expand. It continues to expand. It continues
00:12:56 to expand and now become huge potholes on our roads, damaging the road completely.
00:13:01 So now you have to do fresh construction. But if we were maintaining the maintenance unit
00:13:07 of either the highways or the feeder roads, we're doing the work that is expected of them.
00:13:12 You can have your road lasting longer than we have in this country. So maintenance is a very
00:13:20 important part of maybe every project that we do or that we should be doing in this country.
00:13:27 I believe if we take serious maintenance culture, we'll be able to save a lot. It's like a vehicle.
00:13:33 You buy a car and you decide not to service it. Your vehicle will break down, no matter how new,
00:13:39 no matter how solid the vehicle is. What keeps a vehicle going is regular servicing. The change of
00:13:45 oil, the checking of the tire pressure and so on, the brakes and all those things that you need to
00:13:50 do regularly. Once you do so, your vehicle will be very healthy. It doesn't matter whether it is
00:13:58 a 2019 or whether it is a 2000 vehicle or 1999 vehicle. Once maintenance is appropriate,
00:14:07 regular and correct, you will have your vehicle be so healthy.
00:14:10 And if I may just chip in, one country that showed me a very good example of that,
00:14:14 you know the Cubans had, from the 1950s when the embargo was placed on them, they were stuck with
00:14:21 the vehicles they had. Those old, old vehicles. That's something that if you ever go to that
00:14:26 country, you will know. When you go there, that's what you're looking like.
00:14:28 Somehow, they have managed to maintain them. I remember traveling to all of these places,
00:14:33 from Fuego to La Habana and all of these places. You'd be using 1950s vehicles and they were still
00:14:39 on the road. Definitely, maintenance is key. Very quickly, I want you to look at this bit,
00:14:48 because you are in the Buen Constituency. Something happened in election 2020 that got a
00:14:53 lot of tongues wagging, electorally speaking, and that had to do with the Gulf, the people of
00:14:59 Santu Kofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likwe. Now, the Gwan Constituency is in the process of being created.
00:15:06 What do you make of that? Well, it's welcoming news that the CI at long last has come.
00:15:14 The CI that we were told was ready in November of 2020 has taken a lot of pressure, a lot of
00:15:22 questioning, a lot of press releases and talks, and finally, the Attorney General claimed that
00:15:28 he had given his opinion and everything, and we kept waiting and waiting. It has come. It's been
00:15:34 late and it's counting. We had news of the EC's intention to withdraw the CI again, but yesterday,
00:15:43 in a meeting with the subsidiary legislation, it was made clear that that intention is no more
00:15:50 happening, and so the CI will travel its full course, and after 21 days of sitting, it will
00:15:56 mature for the Gwan Constituency to have been created, and in the same time, the electoral areas
00:16:04 in Muvja, Sikkim and Gwan District would also be legally and constitutionally seem to have been
00:16:12 created to enable those electoral areas also participate in the district-level elections,
00:16:18 to have their assembly members and unit committees equally elected. So, it's good, except that the
00:16:25 injustice that has been done to the people of Gwan, that is the four traditional areas,
00:16:31 can never be compensated for by mere creation of a constituency, which would only kick-start
00:16:42 in 2025, after the 2020 four general elections. Now, as we speak, they are losing a lot.
00:16:48 You know, there's a portion of the District Assembly Common Fund, 5%, which is set aside,
00:16:55 and distributed among the members of Parliament for emergency intervention. Most times, when
00:17:01 emergency things happen, it takes quite a long time for the assemblies to respond, so
00:17:06 the MPs sometimes intervene, like a school roof is ripped off, there's a need for agent
00:17:15 intervention, the MPs can go in. So, that percentage is set aside and distributed among MPs.
00:17:21 The Gwan district is losing that 5%, which would have gone to them because they do not
00:17:28 have a member of Parliament. In the same vein, when you go to the health insurance, a percentage
00:17:33 of the fund is also set aside for health intervention projects by the MP. They are losing
00:17:38 that one also. You go to Get Fund, a percentage is set aside and given to the MPs to support
00:17:46 educational related projects through the district directors of what? Education. That also,
00:17:52 they are lacking it. Then, of course, the Social Intervention Fund, which is also given to the MP
00:17:57 for some social intervention activities through any of the agencies that is choosing either health,
00:18:04 education, or district assembly itself. They have lost that one also because they do not have MP.
00:18:10 That cannot be cured as far as the 8th Parliament is concerned. So, for four years, because of
00:18:16 government's decision to act in the way they acted and the Electoral Commission's denial of
00:18:23 same for them to vote in the 2020 general elections, they have lost all of it.
00:18:28 Yes, but better late than never, from 2025 in the 9th Parliament they will have representation.
00:18:33 Something that comes up linked to that is also this question. That would then mean we would have
00:18:39 276 members of Parliament. Sure. Some have raised the question that with an even number it could
00:18:45 create even more problems when it comes to voting in Parliament. No, it doesn't. That actually solves
00:18:49 a lot of problems. It solves a lot of problems. Until 2012, we have had only even numbered
00:18:58 Parliament. It used to be 200 from 1993 till President Kufo's era when 30 was added to 230.
00:19:08 You see, most of the laws make it more than half, more than this, more than that. And so,
00:19:15 when it was 200 and they say more than half, you know that more than half is 101.
00:19:20 It's clear, well defined, because we do not have a half human being. Then, when it went to
00:19:26 230, when they say more than half, you know that it should be more than 115.
00:19:31 Very clear, because we do not have half human being. When it went to 275,
00:19:37 we have always struggled with the more than half. Because when you divide 275, you'll be getting
00:19:43 137.5. So, people have argued, so what is more than half? Is it 137 or 130?
00:19:53 So, this will restore some balance. This will restore some balance. Where it says to test,
00:20:00 you can always do the necessary calculation and arrive at correcting the value to
00:20:06 the possibly a nearer soul number. So, I think that an even number is better,
00:20:11 is better managed, better understood. It will not create any controversy when the constitution says
00:20:16 you need more than half of all members present and voting. It resolves it straight away.
00:20:22 Let's get into the issue of the selection of Dr. Mohamedou Bawumia as flag bearer of the NPP.
00:20:35 It has been received with mixed reactions. A few days ago, we actually had interactions with some
00:20:43 people in the Ashanti region, Kumasi, to be specific. Then we also interacted with some
00:20:48 students from the University of Ghana. It was interesting listening to the different
00:20:52 sides and what they had to say. But with this election, from where you sit,
00:20:59 what does it mean for your party, the NDC? Well, personally, and I must say that for a
00:21:06 lot of persons that you speak to in the party, some of whom I have known have been part of
00:21:11 developing strategies for the party all this while, it's welcoming news for us to have Dr.
00:21:20 Bawumia on the ticket of our main opponents, the New Patriotic Party, because it makes it good.
00:21:27 It will be an election that you will have records to compare. You will have the record of the NDC
00:21:34 candidate there, and Ghanaians will see it clearly, and you have the record of the NPP candidate there,
00:21:41 and nobody will attempt to run away from it. When you listen to Honourable Kennedy Ajepon's
00:21:48 strong campaign, he made it very clear that the people who took us to, who messed up the economy
00:21:56 in other words, people who made things so worse and bad than it was when they took over, cannot
00:22:02 break the eight. He even added, people who took us to IMF after destroying everything cannot break
00:22:09 the eight. So admittedly, they themselves know that record comparison will be a key thing in
00:22:16 the 2024 elections. And look at the votes that Kennedy got. He got 37 percent of the,
00:22:25 or even 38, I should say. Yeah, 37 plus, I think about 37.
00:22:31 Yeah, 37 point something. So let me round it. The Vice President had 61.47.
00:22:36 Yeah. So let me round it to 38, and when you add the others, that will be about 39. So 39 percent
00:22:46 of NPP executives, these are not just mere voters, indicated clearly that the Vice President, who
00:22:56 ultimately got elected, per their constitution, is not the best material for them and for the
00:23:04 country. And so for us, we are happy that it is him, because it makes it easier to compare,
00:23:11 and makes it easier for people to make their choices.
00:23:14 But does it, doesn't necessarily do that. If you look at the trajectory from
00:23:18 Edubuahin, and let me just look for the statistics, we've had it on Joy News, we've put it out there.
00:23:25 About performance of?
00:23:27 Not even performance. It's about the trajectory of candidates, those who have wanted to be
00:23:35 flag bearer. There it is. So if you look at the NPP presidential primaries from 1992 to
00:23:41 2023, you would realize that Albert Edubuahin in 1992 secured 56.6 percent of the vote. That is,
00:23:49 for the first time, once they went for the first time, which is what Dr. Baumea has done.
00:23:52 Jay Kufuo in 1996 secured 51.99 percent. In 1998, for the second period, then he secured 64.6 percent.
00:24:02 Nanae Kufuado, for the first time, secured 47.97 percent in 2007. In 2010, he secured 78.89 percent.
00:24:10 And then went on to secure an even bigger margin with 94.35 percent in 2014. Dr. Baumea, for the
00:24:19 first time, comes in and secures 61.43 percent. It's more than any first-timer has secured.
00:24:25 Which of these persons you've mentioned had less than 64 percent and won an election
00:24:34 that they went into, the general elections they went into?
00:24:38 Well, in 1998, for the second time, Jay Kufuo secured 64.6 percent and won the election.
00:24:44 So it wasn't less than 64 percent. That's why I'm giving you that. In the Jay Kufuo's elections,
00:24:50 he had not had a taste of power. Ghanaians, at least at that moment, were yearning for change.
00:24:58 In the year 2000, they were yearning for a solid change. And don't also forget that
00:25:03 our party then suffered some kind of losses. We had a reform party image. And so all of these
00:25:13 were against us with the emergence of our candidate. But clearly speaking, like I said,
00:25:20 nobody has attained less than 64 percent and won a general election before. And all these
00:25:27 first-timers that you are talking about did not also win the general election. So if we are going
00:25:33 to do such an extrapolation, then we can clearly see that with 61-point-something percent, you are
00:25:39 going to lose the elections also. That is one. Two, all the other persons, I'm surprised that
00:25:44 anybody would want to compare the opportunity Dr. Baumya has had on the MPP to that of Professor
00:25:52 Albert Edubuahi. Professor Albert Edubuahi, after a long break of what, political activity,
00:26:02 was just emerging. J.A. Kufuo had also not been a vice president before. He was also engaging.
00:26:12 He had been a minister before, I believe.
00:26:14 That was long, long. And many persons who were with him then had even left and joined other
00:26:20 parties. There were some persons who were with him in the Progress Party time who have left and joined
00:26:26 either gone. A lot of changes happened in 1992. Some joined NDC, some even went to CPP, some CPP
00:26:33 persons found their way in NDC, some even found their way in MPP like the Freddie Bliss and then
00:26:38 the rest who later or even joined the MPP. So a lot happened. It has not been known.
00:26:43 The next person would be Alioub Mahama, may he so rest in perfect peace. The longest Alioub Mahama
00:26:49 had was from what, the year 2001 to 2007. That is seven years of his position. Dr Mahamudu Baomia
00:26:59 have had 15 solid years. So you're adding all the periods from 2007 when Ekufu Adu had a running
00:27:09 mate. He had been at the forefront for 15 solid years or more. And so these are not the same.
00:27:20 The level of exposure Dr Mahamudu Baomia have had, the opportunity he's had is not the same as all
00:27:29 other previous first-time contestants. All other previous first-time contestants. The closest
00:27:36 is Aladji Alioub Mahama who was vice president, running mate and vice president and he would have
00:27:43 had it for seven years from 2000 to 2007 when he contested to lead the MPP and didn't get
00:27:53 the opportunity. So people are forgetting all these levels, these many years of exposure as
00:27:59 flag bearer and vice president and that counts a lot. So why would... You think that is part of
00:28:05 what worked for him? Of course it worked for him but it also exposed him as a weak person.
00:28:10 In both ways. It worked both ways. His exposure, therefore familiarity. There are people who go
00:28:18 for him because he's been there, they feel like oh he's there, he's there, hair apparent and what
00:28:23 have you for the long period that he's been there. Coupled with the system backing him and wanting
00:28:30 him to emerge and so everything was done and that was why if you observe during the first round of
00:28:37 the super delegate elections when there were 10 candidates, all the nine everybody had cause to
00:28:43 complain about the influence of the system in favor of what? One person and that informed their decision
00:28:51 at the neck to have the super delegates conference organized at the regional levels instead of
00:28:57 bringing all of them together or even at least zoning. Maybe putting up two zones, the northern
00:29:04 zone and maybe the southern zone so that persons could mix and not feel threatened in order to vote
00:29:11 in a particular way. They refused. Subsequently we saw what happened. It led to resignation of
00:29:18 persons like Alankoju Tremantien from the party now. He forming his own movement for change or
00:29:25 what have you. Others equally complained. When it came down to the four, the three of the four,
00:29:32 all of them kept complaining including Dr. Efie Akoto, Adai Nimo and Kennedy Akumpreku Ajepon.
00:29:45 All of them kept complaining. Even before that Bwache Gatujako had also complained and decided
00:29:52 that he wasn't going to even take part in the round of elections to determine who enters as
00:29:58 the fifth person. So clearly everybody realizes that the system was working for him. So that worked
00:30:07 to his advantage. But at the same time also, majority of the people knew that Bawumia was empty.
00:30:16 Empty? Empty. How so? And you're referring to the person by the way that
00:30:22 Nana Adanko Ekufuwado, the current president, has called the repository of economic
00:30:26 knowledge. I remember quoting him in Bawumia.
00:30:30 Thank you. How can you refer to someone like that as empty?
00:30:39 We are seeing in the Nyanza ASEAN team.
00:30:43 And that, the record is there. That's why I'm saying this election is going to be a comparison
00:31:00 of records. You know Dr. Bawumia, I think he appeared on some of your sister stations and I
00:31:07 watched that recordings I think about two days ago. He spoke against debt levels. He spoke against
00:31:16 borrowing. He talked about how inflation, debt to GDP, he talked about how bad putting taxes and
00:31:24 more taxes on businesses is the wrong way to go. But today, what is the record? My brother,
00:31:32 the debt that he complained about, Bawumia inherited 120 billion as debt of this country.
00:31:39 Today as we speak, we are almost 600 billion as our debt level. So 120 billion, which he claimed
00:31:49 was bad. At least with evidence of huge investments, at least you have things like the Atuabu gas,
00:31:57 you have the airport expansion, you have seaport expansion, you have real projects that were
00:32:03 happening, you have hospital health infrastructure all around us, educational infrastructure all
00:32:10 around us. But you cannot say that the MPP has not done anything in that respect. They've continued
00:32:15 with some of the flyovers. There's Agenda 111, there's 3SHS. Agenda 111, machine one, machine one,
00:32:22 Agenda 111. But it's a work in progress, isn't it? No, but factories have always been built and will
00:32:27 continue to be built. Support to businesses will always happen. Look, the NDC supported the
00:32:32 pharmaceutical industries heavily. I was talking about Agenda 111 by the way, but if you're
00:32:37 speaking of 1D1F, the Ekunfi factory is there for all of us to see. I'm saying that,
00:32:42 but Ekunfi factory was built by government, it's a private person that government...
00:32:45 But that was part of the initiative. Government have always supported
00:32:50 industries to either expand or to add something to what they are already doing. So you cannot
00:32:57 tell me that you promised us that you are going to build factories in every district. You said
00:33:02 one district, one factory, meaning that you were going to dictate it. Today you are saying, oh,
00:33:08 it's private persons, when they do, then you go and support them in terms of taxes. Is that what
00:33:12 they promised you? In any case, so this 600 billion I was talking about. Dr. Baumya said,
00:33:19 debt to GDP, that was at 56% was bad. Now we are talking about 104%.
00:33:24 So if you follow what Fitch said, it said that by close of year, we'll be looking at 99%.
00:33:31 I've seen a revision that even points to 80 something percent.
00:33:36 Ben, so 56% is bad, assuming that it's even 70%. How can 70% be better than 56%?
00:33:45 But the economic dynamics, they don't remain stagnant.
00:33:48 Well, so if they change and they change for worse, should that be good? They don't remain
00:33:53 stagnant. We expect it to be better. This is a measure. You said debt to GDP is a measure
00:33:58 of your debt and your growth. And when it is calculated in percentage terms, you said when
00:34:03 a country's debt to GDP is at 56%, it's so bad. Today it has gotten to what? 99%.
00:34:12 So how can 99% be better? When 56% you said was not good. We should have been seeing something
00:34:20 lower than 56%. Then we say you have done well. But anything above 56% means that you are a poor
00:34:26 performer. No, we haven't finished. He says inflation is bad. Inflation was at what? 15.4%.
00:34:32 Inflation rose to over what? 54%. Recently I hear they are talking about some 42%. So even if it is
00:34:41 42%, 42% cannot be better than 15.4%. Inflation rose to 54.1%. It's now in the 30s.
00:34:51 And I'm saying that even if it is 30, let me even come down to the lower part of 30, that is 30.
00:34:57 30% levels of inflation cannot be better than 15.4% that you criticize. So in the same vein,
00:35:05 when we talk about the exchange rate, when you needed just 3.8 CD and it went a little up to
00:35:10 about maybe even 4 CDs to get $1. And today you need about 12.7 CD to get $1. You cannot tell me
00:35:18 that the one who's pretending to have this situation has done better than the one who had it
00:35:24 at 3.8%. That's why I'm saying it's comparison of what records. When they came to power in the
00:35:30 first 100 days, when they have virtually done nothing, they have taken no decision. And even
00:35:35 if they did take any decision, their decision will not be yielding any results yet. Dr. Baumio
00:35:41 organized a press conference and credited himself as being the one who had stabilized the CD
00:35:48 depreciation and has locked the dollar and handed the key over to the IGP for safekeeping. Today,
00:35:55 what is he saying about this? So these records, we will compare. Interest rates. They said interest
00:36:01 rates at 25% was too bad. Today, businesses are borrowing at 40% because the treasury bills.
00:36:09 Yes, treasury bills rate is over 33%. I thought it was 30 something. I'm saying that treasury
00:36:15 bills rate is 33, 35%. So no bank will lend to anybody below the treasury bills. They'll look
00:36:23 at the threshold and then add. Exactly. Some banks adding about 7%. Exactly. So if treasury bills
00:36:30 bank of Ghana, that's what he's doing, 33 to 35%, then businesses are borrowing at 40%.
00:36:36 Then you tell me that 25% you criticize, that is bad. And you are pretending 40%. And you think
00:36:43 that this is someone that they have put all the worst sense in his head as you accept this. When
00:36:49 I have someone who gave me 25%, growth rate, 3.6%. They are giving us 3.1%. He said 3.6 is bad.
00:36:57 So we expect growth rate hasn't always been this. And I'm saying that, well, well, well,
00:37:03 to be fair, to be fair, in 2017, it was on the back of the IMF or not, then 2017 to around 2019
00:37:11 before 2020, you know where the growth rate is. Be factual. You know what the growth rate is.
00:37:15 I am talking about endpoints figures that I'm giving you now. The NDC recorded the highest
00:37:22 growth of 14%. But we were not credited for the highest that we got. We were credited for the end.
00:37:30 They didn't even give us average. Because if you should strike average,
00:37:35 then we were doing so well. Because we did so well, recording 14%.
00:37:40 We were not credited for 14%. Why do you want me to credit them for 8% and not talk about it,
00:37:48 the 3.1%? Because even if we strike average, it's still far below our average. If you want us to do
00:37:54 averages, we can do averages. But I'm not doing averages for now. Budget deficit of 6.1%, he said
00:38:01 it was bad. Today, they are giving us 12% and more budget deficit. So the credit rating, we were
00:38:09 rated B-, he said that rating was bad. Now we are a junk status. They can't even rate us anymore.
00:38:19 Our ratings have risen though.
00:38:21 And I'm saying that. We got to a situation, if we were describing the environment, it was like
00:38:28 NDC had us in the hall. If it is a chamber hall that I want to use to describe. We were seated
00:38:35 in the hall. The MPP and the BAME have taken us to a refuse dump. So you can imagine what we do
00:38:43 at refuse dump. We dump refuse there and do all kinds of things there. That is what they did to
00:38:48 this. I see that you're focusing on the economic parameters. Because President Nnana Danku Akufu
00:38:57 Addo, in 2007, in 2010, in 2016, told us clearly that he doesn't understand the economy. He's
00:39:09 bringing someone who will come and deal with the economic related issues. That is why when I'm
00:39:14 discussing BAME, I want to use the sector that he was marketed.
00:39:20 >> Yeah, which some say has become an albatross around his name.
00:39:24 >> Exactly.
00:39:24 >> He's not the minister of finance.
00:39:26 >> No, no, no, no.
00:39:27 >> He's not the minister of finance.
00:39:28 >> Well, listen to this. He questioned John Dramani Mahama in 2016 that if he had any new
00:39:37 ideas, he was in charge for eight years. He didn't say he was in charge for even four years. He said
00:39:44 you were in charge for eight years. So he calculated even the period when he was vice president.
00:39:50 >> Right.
00:39:51 >> So Dr. Baumian knew that as vice president, you are in charge.
00:39:55 >> In other words, especially as head of the economic management, he cannot extricate himself.
00:40:00 >> He cannot extricate himself. So Baumian himself has stated that standard. And that is what we are
00:40:06 using to question him today.
00:40:07 >> Let's continue on this trajectory. So I mean, I can't wait for you to go on.
00:40:10 >> Unemployment, just because it's very important. Unemployment was recording about 8.4%
00:40:18 under the NDC. Today, it is 14%. General unemployment.
00:40:24 >> 13 point something.
00:40:25 >> 14%. And youth unemployment is even worse, 42%. Unemployment generally 14%. Youth unemployment
00:40:34 42%. Why do you think people are living and using all kinds of unorthodox means to leave
00:40:39 this country? So if you are told that this is the person who has earned, in all this poor performance,
00:40:45 we have had a lot more things happening in their favor. Bank of Ghana alone funded them over 45
00:40:52 billion in 2022. They gave them free money. While zero was given to NDC in 2016.
00:40:59 >> That has been hotly contested. Even our figures that we have.
00:41:04 >> Contested by who?
00:41:04 >> These days, I'll do that.
00:41:06 >> No, hold on, hold on.
00:41:07 >> What Bank of Ghana give them.
00:41:09 >> Mofi, hold on.
00:41:10 >> I have seen some data from the NDC, you know, making a juxtaposition.
00:41:16 >> Yeah.
00:41:16 >> Most of them happen to be true. But some of the data in reference to
00:41:20 no Bank of Ghana support and 16 billion available to the NDC and all of that.
00:41:25 >> I'm saying that.
00:41:26 >> Are not tenable.
00:41:27 >> Let me tell you. No, man, in 2016, there was zero financing from the central bank.
00:41:35 >> Okay, so if you are restricting yourself to a specific --
00:41:38 >> No, I'm talking about I told you I'm dealing with NDA.
00:41:43 >> Right.
00:41:43 >> The figures they use to attack us is what I'm dealing with. I'm not talking about maybe
00:41:50 2012. I'm not talking about 2013. There was some level of financing from central bank.
00:41:57 But we took a decision that we were going to go zero percent financing from what? Bank of
00:42:03 Ghana. And in 2016, though an election year, we fulfilled that. That's what I'm referring to.
00:42:09 >> You also fulfilled that, to be fair, because the IMF was on your neck.
00:42:14 >> And I'm --
00:42:14 >> Our governments only know how to do the right thing in terms of fiscal discipline.
00:42:20 >> You should --
00:42:21 >> In terms of tightening its economic belt.
00:42:24 >> You should --
00:42:24 >> Only when the IMF is backing down --
00:42:26 >> You should remember --
00:42:27 >> When they have you by the back of the neck.
00:42:29 >> You should remember, Ben, you should remember the consensus.
00:42:33 >> That we called a meeting of labor, political parties, and everybody to a meeting to engage.
00:42:42 We prepared our own document and took it to IMF, which we were members of, and to ask for support.
00:42:49 It's different from those who are telling you we won't go to IMF today,
00:42:54 we won't go to IMF tomorrow, only for them to be subjected to it. That is the difference.
00:43:00 So we have a leader in whom you can trust, a leader that has delivered and will deliver,
00:43:06 not one who stands to talk and give you the opposite.
00:43:09 So in Bahamia, we do not have a problem. That's why I said it's going to be a comparison of records.
00:43:15 >> Are you getting complacent? Are you taking this for granted?
00:43:17 >> Not at all.
00:43:17 >> No, hold on. I've heard some of your members say, you know what,
00:43:20 I've forgotten who came into the studio and said this, a member of the NDC.
00:43:24 He said, you know, all we have to do is mount the questions that Bahamia posed and put them
00:43:33 on billboards or, you know, rolling billboards so that people will see, and that will be our campaign.
00:43:40 Yes, there are the 276, in fact, the 230 questions. There are the 130-something questions.
00:43:46 There are the 70-something questions he posed.
00:43:48 But crucial as the economy is, do you think Ghanaians will give the NDC the knowledge?
00:43:53 >> Economy... >> Simply because you can punch holes in
00:43:56 the same areas that Bahamia was able to punch holes so many years ago?
00:44:02 >> Well, economy is key to life and everything, but we are not going to be complacent.
00:44:08 Indeed, you have to explain these things to the people for them to be able to have
00:44:13 a very good understanding how it affects them directly, how government decision,
00:44:18 how government's refusal, for example, to pay contractors is affecting that ordinary person's
00:44:25 life all the way down there. Because sometimes when you just go and say contractors are owed $10
00:44:29 billion, a taxi driver far away, a Kenkai seller far away may think that if they owe a contractor,
00:44:35 does it concern me? It is our responsibility to explain to them how, when that contractor is not
00:44:41 paid, he is unable to pay the storekeeper he owes supplies, he is unable to continue his job.
00:44:48 So the laborers who work at his site, who will get there by day and go and buy the Kenkai from
00:44:54 the Kenkai seller are not buying the Kenkai. So you cook your Kenkai and you return it home.
00:44:59 The taxi driver or the Uber driver who is running around, because that contractor was not paid and
00:45:06 he couldn't pay his workers, when the weekend comes, they will not attempt to attend any party
00:45:11 anywhere in order to call Uber for you to take them to that program. And so it's a chain of impact
00:45:18 that these things have. And you cannot sit and just pose those questions and leave them and
00:45:23 think that they will translate into votes. So we are not going to be complacent, because we know
00:45:27 we are dealing with a candidate and a party that who knows how to package rags, package it so nicely
00:45:36 and seal it so well that they will sell it to you for good, only for you to reach home and
00:45:41 realize that you have bought rags. And you may be holding the real good, but because you did not
00:45:46 package it well, people will be passing you and rejecting what it is that you are.
00:45:50 So you accept that the NDC has failed in the past to properly package its so-called good deeds?
00:45:57 We have not been able to present our deeds very well to the people. Equally because also
00:46:04 some of you, the middle class, have disappointed this country. Even when MPP came and they were
00:46:10 failing, the signs were so clear. You refused to admit that the government was failing. You left
00:46:22 it for only NDC to do the criticism. The religious leaders went quiet. When the government decided to
00:46:29 spend money to do cathedral, when there were many other things that needed attention, and we raised
00:46:35 some concerns about it, let us know you spent money to do it. I knew religious leaders who
00:46:40 mounted platforms and criticized persons who were raising those concerns. Today it has done on many
00:46:46 of them that that is a cathedral of lies, cathedral of corruption, and so on and so forth. And some of
00:46:52 them have had to even resign from it. So we need to collectively play that role, because look,
00:46:58 we only have Ghana. You don't have anywhere to go. You can travel, you can have visas in your
00:47:03 passport to go anywhere, but you only have Ghana. Whatever it is you do, Ghana will be your home. So
00:47:08 when you don't speak out, when you don't get things corrected, so you have the correct leaders,
00:47:14 and you wait for propagandists to package someone who is not what he claimed to be,
00:47:20 and then he sold to you, then we'll all be in the country and continue to suffer. I don't think that
00:47:27 Baumea should have space to be able to speak anywhere and go without being questioned.
00:47:32 People must question him, people must question his campaigners, people must question his
00:47:38 promoters. They cannot run away from the mess they have put us in and think that he will say,
00:47:44 "I'll be my own man, I'll do something different." When Senior Minister Yawasafomafu
00:47:50 was praising Dr. Baumea as being a best economic management team chair that he had ever seen,
00:47:59 Dr. Baumea was there, and he was nodding to all those praises that he was truly an activist
00:48:06 economic management team chair. He was deeply involved. And Yawasafomafu is no mean person.
00:48:12 Don't forget that this is someone who has been the finance minister before. So when he's talking
00:48:17 about how activist the economic management team chair was, he knew what he was talking about,
00:48:23 because he has been part of that team as a finance minister, as education minister,
00:48:28 and also now as a senior minister, and he has seen it. At that time, he was nodding in admiration
00:48:34 and acceptance. Today, you are running away from the economic mess that you have created.
00:48:39 We must not allow that to happen. - All right, and we've had a lot of
00:48:44 comments coming through on some of these, but interestingly, I've heard a lot of emcees saying
00:48:50 that they're gearing up to campaign for the vice president, and we even have musicians. Gospel act
00:48:58 Diana Asamoah has announced that she has recorded a campaign song for the New Patriotic Party
00:49:04 in preparation for the 2024 general elections. So it appears you are late as far as that is concerned.
00:49:10 - Benjamin is the name. - Sorry, Benjamin, sorry. Benjamin,
00:49:14 what do you expect the emcees to see? When the president who we elected, who had given the little
00:49:22 of his power to the municipal and district chief executives, himself has said that the rest of his
00:49:29 energy, his mind, his everything, he's going to put it into campaigning for Baumea and Nate.
00:49:35 At the time the world is confronted with problems and leaders are seeking solutions,
00:49:41 our president is seeking to put all his energy, all his strength, all his talent into campaigning
00:49:48 to get Baumea elected so all their crimes will be covered. You know our constitutional arrangement
00:49:54 says a president can only be taking on whether civil or criminal action within three years after
00:50:00 leaving office for his actions that he took whilst in office. If president Akufo-Addo succeeds,
00:50:07 everything to have Baumea planted in there, he will be covered. So after those three years,
00:50:12 nobody can investigate him or do any other thing, taking any steps against him again.
00:50:16 That's what the president said. - You think all of this is about that?
00:50:20 - All of this is about that. That is why in times of troubles, when world leaders,
00:50:25 have you listened to world leaders, even in places where we have elections, even Biden,
00:50:30 who thinks that he wants to seek re-election, he is focusing his energies on solving problems of
00:50:36 America and even beyond. He's not talking about the next election. Even Biden, who wants to seek
00:50:42 for re-election. Our president, who is supposed to be retiring, says that in these challenging
00:50:49 times, when youth unemployment is so high, when there is so much hopelessness, when your own
00:50:55 national security minister says unemployment is a security threat, when we cannot find solutions
00:51:01 to all these myriad of problems that confront us, our president says his last assignment,
00:51:07 all his energy, all his everything, will be to elect his vice president to take over from him.
00:51:13 - Crucially, just to cap off this end so we get to the La General Hospital, crucially,
00:51:16 in there, you would also see that while you're saying all of this, you would have to come
00:51:24 to the ceiling of proof, evidence required to take on a former president. Hold on, hold on.
00:51:32 It's very high per the constitution, per our law books, and I don't know what exactly you would
00:51:38 hang around his neck that you feel would-- - You say it is high.
00:51:43 - No, I'm just reminding you that the ceiling is rather high.
00:51:45 - I know it's high. Our constitution also created a block that if you don't attempt it by a certain
00:51:54 time, you cannot even look into it. That is why-- - But whether the vice president becomes
00:52:00 president or not, you can still take up those matters in court within a three-year period.
00:52:04 - Benjamin, Benjamin, we know what had happened, that the control institutions, how the executive
00:52:11 can manipulate virtually every institution and therefore not allow institutions to freely act in
00:52:17 the manner that they should act. But what I'm saying is that the constitution put a certain
00:52:21 blockade by within a certain time. So whether the standard of proof is so high or not, over the
00:52:27 period, Ghanaians have handled it in such a way that when a party or a president saves eight years,
00:52:33 you leave, another person come, then put it through test. We must not allow a puppet to be
00:52:41 elected a president to cover up virtually everything that we see glaringly that have gone wrong.
00:52:45 - You're referring to the vice president. - No proper--
00:52:48 - Isn't that a bit of a low blow? - Well, but that is what he's seeking to do.
00:52:52 Why? What was not said-- - He said he is his own man.
00:52:54 - What was not said of Professor Mills? - He says he is his own man.
00:52:57 - What was not said of Professor Mills? - In respect of former President Rawlings,
00:53:02 may he so rest in peace. - What was not said? What was not said by
00:53:06 current ministers against his excellency John Dramani Mahama, but I'm not the type of person who,
00:53:11 if anyone feels offended, well, is withdrawn. But the truth of the matter is that the president
00:53:17 wants to install his own person. For me, my thinking is that--
00:53:22 - But it's not the president who voted for Baumea, the delegates did.
00:53:25 - Well, everybody knew that-- - I mean, it's not the president alone.
00:53:28 - They commandeered every single person that they can commandeer to make sure that they rallied for
00:53:35 Baumea. And that was why all others were complaining. That was why, why did you think that
00:53:40 Honorable Kereatepe said, "President Akufo, remember we show down," before he mentioned
00:53:44 Dr. Baumea? Why did he say, "President Akufo, remember we show down"? Why did he say so?
00:53:48 Why didn't he say, "Dr. Baumea, remember we show down first"? He knew what was happening.
00:53:52 So he knew what was happening. He is in the party. He was contesting. That's why I said,
00:53:56 "President Akufo, remember we show down." Why did he add him? Why did he add him? Have you
00:54:01 asked that question? Have you gotten an answer to it? It's because he was deeply involved. They
00:54:05 were manipulating things. So it's so clear. And I think that Ghanaians must not allow
00:54:12 themselves to be deceived once again. They were deceived in the past. They should not be deceived
00:54:19 now. We must all stand up and speak against these hills. We must all get involved. You see,
00:54:25 the situation we find ourselves in is a rescue mission. It's not about just John Dramani,
00:54:30 Muhammad Bey. He's the most experienced person that we have at the moment. He is the one who
00:54:35 has proven that in times of difficulties, he has taken decisions that have worked to help
00:54:40 this country. If this government had continued with the trajectory, by now we would not have
00:54:45 been where we are. When he was building more energy facilities and they came talking about
00:54:51 excess capacity, he had in mind that the vehicles and the rest, the industrialization of this
00:54:57 country was going to leap. He didn't have in mind that he was going to collapse industries.
00:55:02 He had in mind that industrialization was going to be the order of the day and industries would
00:55:08 need energy. But this government has gone to sleep and has worked to collapse many industries.
00:55:14 So today, if the industries are not functioning, they will not take the power. Because you can
00:55:18 only use what it is that you need for your production purposes. If many of them are leaving
00:55:23 the neighboring countries, Cote d'Ivoire and the rest, you will not have productivity going on
00:55:29 and your energy will stay waste. And John Muhammad will want to correct.
00:55:33 I think we've done enough of the Baumea and the politics. I also see, of course, sometimes
00:55:38 I think some of our viewers or the communicators of the parties from both ends, they think we don't
00:55:43 notice. I see some of the foot soldiers, so to speak, sending in messages. You know I'll not
00:55:47 read them, right? When I see that you are one of those and all you say is skewed in a certain line,
00:55:52 you know I'm not going to read your messages. So don't even waste your data. Because we are
00:55:56 looking for people who are sharing incisive thoughts, rational thoughts. I beg your pardon
00:56:02 that I'm going this way, but the party communicators, NDC, MPP, we see when you send in
00:56:06 messages. And I usually will not read unless you shift and you are sending in something. So I'll
00:56:11 not mention names, but if you are listening, you know whom I'm referring to. You know yourself.
00:56:15 I'll not read those messages. They don't add anything to the show. The government has identified
00:56:21 new funding for the La General Hospital. According to the story, Mr. Kwakuwa Ajuman Meno,
00:56:28 the Minister of Health, says the government has concluded negotiations, identified new funding,
00:56:33 and is in the process of advancing negotiations for contractors to remobilize to the La General
00:56:38 Hospital site to begin work. Here's the catch. The NDC says if you don't get this on board,
00:56:46 you know, rolling, we're not going to support the 2024 budget. Is that something we want to do
00:56:55 though, especially considering where our economy is? I do agree. And this matter, I have spoken of
00:57:01 time without number. You can't take a medical facility like that. I go to that area from time
00:57:07 to time. The people there now are now forced to go to either private health facilities or go
00:57:13 much farther distances just to get health care. But at the same time, where we find ourselves,
00:57:20 is this the right posture? Well, Benjamin, areas of investment that no matter the situation you
00:57:29 find yourself, that you should never ignore as a government, includes health, education, food,
00:57:37 and possibly shelter. And the food, I'm talking about water and sanitation and all those things
00:57:45 come under there. And so for a government to decide to pull down a functioning health facility
00:57:56 when you had no hand on the funding,
00:57:59 Benjamin, will you pull down, assuming that it's even a madhouse, will you pull down your madhouse
00:58:10 completely in the name of some beautiful architectural designs that you have received
00:58:19 when you had no funding for it? You decide to pull down your Atakame building that was at least
00:58:27 giving you shelter, providing you shelter. You pull that down when you had no funding.
00:58:32 So this was done in July 2020.
00:58:34 2020.
00:58:35 And the sector minister, Kukwaja Maimeno, is now saying it will take off soon.
00:58:41 The president himself went there to cut short, just like he did for Pualugu Dam and many other
00:58:48 things that they have cut short and nothing had happened, including my own district where they
00:58:52 cut short for 1D1F. Today you can go there and hunt for antelopes and grass cutters. It is bush,
00:58:57 nothing has happened, not even a single block. So clearly, I want to commend my colleague,
00:59:03 the member of parliament for La Dade Kutupon, for making the statement she did yesterday on
00:59:09 Retail Dolly.
00:59:10 Yeah, Retail Dolly. So that is the type of leaders that we want and constituencies
00:59:16 actually need. That when the issues confront your people, you bring it on the floor of the house,
00:59:23 raise it, and you get some level of consensus from members and it is pushed.
00:59:28 So she made a statement yesterday on Laguna Hospital and virtually everybody who contributed
00:59:34 agreed with her. And the majority leader made it clear that he tried to explain the challenges
00:59:42 that went through. And when the health minister said funding has been secured, he said,
00:59:46 you cannot secure funding when it has not even come to parliament for parliament to approve it.
00:59:50 And so you need to hurry and therefore bring it for. And if we don't find it in the 2024 budget,
00:59:58 which is the last budget of this government that brought down that health facility, then of course
01:00:04 the issues raised there will happen. Because this is your last budget. Even though it's been read
01:00:09 in 2023, it's actually 2024 budget. So they do not have any budget to present again. This is
01:00:18 your last budget. They only will have a review maybe somewhere in July. And we cannot wait for
01:00:25 a review to factor such a major project like the Laguna Hospital project. And so whatever funding
01:00:32 it is that they claim they have secured, whatever it is, it must find space in the budget.
01:00:39 You they would not take any deception anymore as far as the health of the people of not just LA,
01:00:45 but other surrounding constituencies depend on it because it's the closest referral point.
01:00:52 It's the closest referral point to even Crowel and other areas. So they depend on it. It's not
01:00:59 just the LA people. As far as even Lejuku, they all also depend on it. So it is important to have
01:01:07 that facility. Because of lack of that facility, people have to travel long distances for a less
01:01:13 higher level of what? Care. And it is a matter that is of great concern to us. We have talked
01:01:19 about the support for the flood victims that it must find space in the budget. We've talked about
01:01:27 the sea defense project for the people of K2, the K2 area and then a part of Keta areas that have
01:01:35 been suffering and even the Adar areas because it's also important we do that project to protect
01:01:42 lives. So anything that is geared towards protecting lives that will regenerate the
01:01:48 economy, that will help them support economic growth, we are in for it. And we want to see
01:01:54 it in the budget. Government can cut East Side. Government can cut many other areas and to make
01:02:00 savings for such other interventions. At this moment, what the President should be thinking
01:02:05 about is bringing the real ministry of real development and transport together, reducing
01:02:13 number of ministries and downsizing size of government. Proper downsizing should be happening,
01:02:20 not telling us that he's going to spend his energy to campaign to get his candidate elected.
01:02:25 That is not the end. That is not why... Speaking of downsizing, in a recent interaction
01:02:31 with Dr Ishmael Yamsin, Yamsin and Associates, he says on the size of government,
01:02:38 President Ndukufuwara should demonstrate that he can run a lean government in his last year. But
01:02:44 let's even look beyond that. Okay, the NDC, you've also had problems with the size of your government.
01:02:52 Maybe the MPP has added on in numbers that we've not seen. But even with the numbers that the NDC
01:02:58 has had, we've been told that you can do with a lot more. You look at the constitutional provisions
01:03:02 and the 19, that are made mention of and beyond which we can make some... Well, even the 19 is a
01:03:09 number given as cabinet... Exactly, exactly. The cabinet minister. Of course, you would have to
01:03:14 factor in now 16 regional ministers. Some say that you can have some ministers for maybe a
01:03:20 great cause or something, handling other ministries, core ministers, handling regions as well. We can
01:03:27 take away some of the deputies. In fact, a lot of the deputies can go and all of that. How is an NDC
01:03:34 administration going to tackle this issue? Because guess what? It goes down to it, unless you're not
01:03:40 assessing how much every Peswa we spend means. You have the Kolebu, Reynold department. They need
01:03:48 4 million Ghana cities. That is about eight V8 vehicles. Nowadays, you see everybody, even some
01:03:55 assembly people are beginning to ride all of these cars. You don't know where they get them from. But
01:03:59 MCEs, DCEs, all of that. The last time I saw, they are riding in V8s. The question is, is that what
01:04:06 we need as a country? Is that our most important variable in our national life? All these V8s.
01:04:14 So you get it. The more of such officials we have, the more of such spending, and the less goes to
01:04:20 the ordinary man at the hospital, on the road, in the classroom. That's why I'm posing this question.
01:04:26 I agree. How is the NDC going to tackle something like that? Thank you. It's something clearly that
01:04:30 the NDC has demonstrated. President John Ramadi Mahama has demonstrated this in the past.
01:04:36 You observe that President Mahama decided that even though he accepts that information is key
01:04:47 and important for development, he placed information and communication ministries together.
01:04:54 Transport was one ministry. Even though we saw massive -- under one transport minister,
01:05:03 we saw heavy investments in our Kutuka International Airport, the Terminal 3 project.
01:05:09 We saw the Tamale Airport. We saw the Hu Airport. We saw a number of sea airports, both Takoradi and
01:05:16 Tema Wanbin expanded heavily now, receiving some of the largest ships that you can ever find in
01:05:24 the world also can come to Ghana here. They were preparing to have a private port also in Takoradi,
01:05:31 a private free port in Takoradi. We had real development going on. The Tema Mpakadan
01:05:37 Rail project was a project that funding and designs and everything was done under His Excellency John
01:05:43 Ramadi Mahama. We had only one minister and a deputy that was pretending all these sectors.
01:05:48 Today, President Akufo-Addo comes and decides to break the transport ministry to aviation,
01:05:54 rail development, and transport with numerous deputies. So we will get back to the old system
01:06:00 of having just transport ministry. Some are even suggesting that as it was earlier, transport and
01:06:07 routes should even merge so that routes and highways and transport will become one ministry.
01:06:16 You have agreed. But the good thing is that President Mahama has made a promise to work with
01:06:21 not more than 60 ministers. And I know him, he will keep to it. So he's going to work --
01:06:28 Even to be factual, even 60 is high. I mean, you ask yourself, a country of what? Some 30? Hold for
01:06:33 me, hold for me. Let me just make this point. A country of some 31 million people, 31 million
01:06:38 plus people. You look at other jurisdictions, the Germany and other places that we go, pan in hand,
01:06:44 getting funds. How many ministers do they have? Even 60 is rather high.
01:06:48 Like he said yesterday, he doesn't want to make promises that may be too way off.
01:06:56 If you get in, you could possibly maybe even manage it better. You can still come down. But
01:07:00 he's giving that as a ceiling that he will not go beyond. And so considering the numbers that
01:07:07 we've had from 126 to 90-something now, considering the numbers that we've had,
01:07:12 let's say 60 as a ceiling is a good number to start with. When we work our way through and
01:07:17 work so well, we could be thinking about further reducing the ceiling and reducing the ceiling
01:07:23 until we get to a point where we would take even the constitutional injunctions of 19 cabinet
01:07:31 ministers and some special ministers that are mentioned in the constitution and free the hands
01:07:36 of the president. They just give a certain ceiling you cannot go beyond. So I think it's workable.
01:07:41 There are a lot of duplicate agencies that we have that can be amalgamated into one so they
01:07:50 don't waste so much. And there's so much wastage in the system that we'll have to work with. And
01:07:56 we will do this collaboratively. The NDC believes strongly that we do not have all the brains,
01:08:04 all the ideas. And that is why we always believe in that engagement. It is in that spirit that
01:08:10 yesterday he started building the Ghana We Want Talk, first by engaging with TUC, because TUC
01:08:17 has a lot of ideas and a lot of brains there. And any government that wants to succeed must be a
01:08:23 friend of TUC and tap into the ideas that they have. We don't pretend that we know everything.
01:08:29 And that is the good thing about the NDC, that we always want to bring people together
01:08:33 and build ideas. That was why we built a consensus document, took it to the IMF, and that document
01:08:43 saw the trajectory of growth that we were experiencing. And that was why Economic and
01:08:48 Intelligence Unit predicted in 2016 that the NPP was going to win, though, but the economic boom
01:08:56 that we will experience in 2017 and 2018 will be so good, but not because of the decisions of the
01:09:04 party that will win the elections. This was predicted even before we went into the elections.
01:09:10 But when we started seeing the signs of President Mahama's decisions and policies,
01:09:15 Dr. Baumea took credit for it. Now, seven years on, your own policies should be yielding results,
01:09:22 and all we see is negative. And you say you'll be your own.
01:09:25 Well, that has tended to be a trend among your politicians.
01:09:27 You'll be your own man.
01:09:28 When it is rosy, you take credit for it. When it's not, you pass the buck.
01:09:34 Don't forget President Mahama, when we had the energy situation, he didn't go back blaming
01:09:40 the previous administration for not investing in energy. He took responsibility.
01:09:45 Well, mention was made of what had not been done in the past.
01:09:49 But he took responsibility. I said he will fix it, and he fixed it.
01:09:53 That is a leader.
01:09:53 So to cap off the conversation, you've mentioned that engagement with the TUC.
01:09:58 What brings to mind this bit? The TUC boss has said, on the back of President Mahama,
01:10:02 former President Mahama, saying that he would run a three-shift economy.
01:10:07 Okay, so I found that to be interesting, exciting on some level, because of what
01:10:12 happens in other economies. And also because if you're running an economy that doesn't sleep,
01:10:17 it means more jobs will be created for young people.
01:10:20 Sure.
01:10:20 The TUC boss says it will change our country and our economy forever. But, again, talk is cheap.
01:10:31 Hold on, hold on, hold on, Kofi. As we have seen in this country, both with the NDC
01:10:36 and with the MPP, what were we not told about taxation to production?
01:10:40 What were we not told about roads and everything?
01:10:43 So my point is, while it sounds exciting, Ghanaians have had a rough ride with listening
01:10:50 to sweet talk that has resulted in nothing. Is this not just sweet talk, again, to sway
01:10:58 people to vote in a certain direction? How is the NDC going to execute this? We have a system,
01:11:02 one working shift system that has run for as long as I remember.
01:11:06 That is why most things that we make promises on, we justify it with evidence. If you look at our
01:11:15 manifestos in the past, we have always justified why we say this could be done, this could be done,
01:11:21 that could be done, and this could be done. The 24-hour economy is simple.
01:11:26 Let me give you an example of maybe one institution. Let's take something like
01:11:30 DVLA that renders some services. By 5 p.m., they say they have closed. You are working here,
01:11:41 maybe you also close around 5 p.m., and you want to get some service done,
01:11:46 that you want to do it yourself. But because they have closed at 5 p.m., you are not able to get
01:11:52 served by DVLA because they have closed. But it is possible for DVLA to run three shifts so that
01:12:00 at all times, when Benjamin has closed from his work and he is free, his free time that he would
01:12:06 have been resting, he can use it to go and execute that particular need that he wants.
01:12:14 But we are running an economy where all of us start at the same time, closing at the same time,
01:12:18 and the world doesn't also sleep at the same time. Whilst we are awake now, Benjamin,
01:12:23 some people are sleeping. Whilst they are awake, we have gone to sleep. How are they going to
01:12:29 relate with that? So, President Mahama wants our economy to run 24 hours so that at all times,
01:12:34 when anybody wants to do business with Ghana, it will be interesting for you to have someone
01:12:40 to attend to you. Thank you so much, Kofi Adams, for having joined the conversation this morning.
01:12:48 Kofi Adams is a member of Parliament for the Bwim constituency, and he joined us to talk about
01:12:54 many issues of national scope, germane to our national life. Crucial among them, we spoke about
01:13:01 the selection of Dr Mahamud Baumya, Vice President of the country, Vice President of Ghana,
01:13:08 as flag bearer of the MPP, and of course, the LHA, General Hospital, which was brought down in
01:13:15 somewhere July 2020, and has not seen the light of day since then. Whilst still to come on the show,
01:13:23 we'll be telling you about the Ministry of Education and its collaboration with the NEIP.
01:13:27 It's all about STEMnovation 2023. All of that after the break.
01:13:43 [Music]