FULL TEXT: NPP’s True State of the Nation Address

Ladies and Gentlemen, we the Mighty Minority are ready to do our work – to provide truthful information to the Ghanaian people on the affairs of our nation, especially, as the government is holding a National Economic Dialogue, which is intended to whitewash the unfounded and baseless claims of the mismanagement of our economy under the erstwhile NPP administration. They are even scaring the people of Ghana further by putting out unaudited outstanding claims on government, and we will expose the mischief in these claims.

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We believe these unholy moves by the NDC are intended to buy time to cover for its incompetence in managing the economy and to establish the basis for increasing taxes and introducing new taxes in the 2025 Budget Statement, even as they are promising to scrap E-Levy, COVID-Levy and others.

Ladies and gentlemen, does it make sense to scrap E-levy and betting tax, and replace them with new taxes on the mining, telecommunication, the financial sector and real estate industries, which will all be passed on to customers? The people of Ghana should wait for the deception of the NDC government when they present the 2025 budget – taxes galore!

This is how they intend to tax Ghanaians to collect their target of GHS200 billion in tax revenues this year. This government accused us of overtaxing the people of Ghana because by the end of 2024, the NPP administration collected GHS152.9 billion which is 17% tax to GDP ratio taking it from President Mahama’s 13% in 2016. How do you then turn around to expect to collect GHS200 billion in a broken economy?

We the Mighty Minority will join the people of Ghana to resist any attempt to smuggle in new taxes or increase existing taxes. We owe it a duty to hold the government accountable for their promises to the people of Ghana. Ladies and Gentlemen, as a country, we have come a long way, working closely with our
key stakeholders including the IMF, World Bank, the African Development Bank, bilateral partners, domestic and international investors; and more importantly, the Ghanaian people who have sacrificed so much to see us get this far.

We can assure you all that our partners and the people of Ghana are not happy because the President’s SONA has reversed the gains made especially towards building confidence with investors. The President has painted the picture of a country that has been economically mismanaged when in fact, we have turned the corner from what we have all come to know was the worst economic crisis in Ghana following an unprecedented global crisis between 2020 and 2022. Even when they were confronted with a domestic challenge in the form of dumsor, they run to the IMF to save the economy. How much more a crisis that plagued all countries across the world.

What the President has done is like putting a gun on one’s head and pulling the trigger.

Investors had felt the hope of a resurging economy, and were looking forward to the new things the President was bringing to consolidate the gains. The President has effectively told them to go away because the economy is in crisis, contrary to the evidence.

The cost-of-living crisis is a global problem, and we understand, but that cannot be used to degrade the entire economy in the face of overwhelming data pointing to the contrary.
And in addressing the cost-of-living crisis, the President himself went to a meeting with leaders of the labour union to assure them he was on top of his job, only to offer them 10% increase in the base pay, when his predecessor without this drama offered them 23% from January to June and 25% from July to December 2024 in an economy that is “criminally mismanaged” in the words of President Mahama.

He also touted his economic strategy around the 24-Hour economy to deliver jobs to the youth. However, the only area he mentioned was in the processing of passports. Not even the incentives to industries that will create sustainable jobs. Does the President think many Ghanaians would want to run out of the country because they know his poor record on job creation, and are preparing to run out of the country as a result of which they need a 24hour issuance of passports?

Ladies and gentlemen, let no one be surprised at the blame game by His Excellency the President. It is not new. This is what President Mahama said about the late Professor John Evans Atta Mills, in his last state of the nation address delivered on January 5, 2017, in which he blamed the poor performance of their first four years during which he served as Vice President.

“Mr. Speaker, we inherited [in 2013] an economy that was running a high deficit, with increasing inflation and interest rates. It was also characterized by a rapidly depreciating
currency. This unstable macro environment created an unfavourable investment environment for both indigenous and foreign capital. Our forum at Senchi was an attempt to forge a consensus for a homegrown fiscal consolidation programme. The Senchi outcome eventually became the basis for the IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF)
programme we are implementing”.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are back there, with another round of blame game and another National Economic Dialogue and with the same “da da noaa” His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, who promises to create jobs and begin by firing those who have jobs. Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens. This is the True State of our Nation. May the Almighty God bless our Nation and make her great and strong. Thank you!