NPP national chairman hopeful Boakye Agyarko has defended the Akufo-Addo administration’s eight-year performance, attributing economic challenges to global shocks and inherited debt.
Speaking on Tolon Radio’s Yeltoga Kpanjogu program with Mr. Shakur Omae on Friday, Agyarko said the government performed “perfectly” despite major hurdles.
He cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war as key factors that disrupted Ghana’s economy and hurt the NPP’s fortunes in the last election.
Agyarko also pointed to the energy sector challenges the administration faced. He said he met an accumulated energy sector debt of $2.6 billion at the Ministry of Energy, which were debts owed for power generation alone.
The former Energy Minister credited the government’s efforts with helping to solve “dumsor,” the intermittent power outages that previously plagued the country.
In his assessment, Agyarko said the government should have declared an economic emergency right after the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure a swift economic recovery and stabilize the economy.
“The foundation was shaky, but we delivered,” Agyarko told listeners.
‘Not shocked’ by NPP defeat, blames low voter turnout
Honourable Boakye Agyarko said he was not shocked by the party’s defeat in the last election but expressed disappointment at the scale of the loss. “We did badly in that election, it was disappointing,” Agyarko said.
While acknowledging that everyone would have reasons for the defeat, he pointed to low voter turnout as a key factor. He stated that the NPP suffered a shortfall of about 2.1million votes compared to the previous election.
According to Agyarko, John Mahama won the election without an increase in votes, securing victory by a narrow margin.
Source: tolonradio.com/Ibrahim Abubakari Dinnani
