Speaking at a press conference in Accra today (April 4, 2023), the Chairman of the NPP, Stephen Ayesu Ntim, argued that the the opposition party was deliberately ignoring the fact that Ghana’s economy has been badly affected by the impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

This, he said was a clear testimony of the scheme by the NDC to misinform Ghanaians. 

He said after President Akufo-Addo had presented an address on the State of the Nation on March 8, 2023, where he addressed critical issues of concern to all Ghanaians, the opposition party, led by its Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, also held a press conference where they produced a distorted account of the President's state of the nation address in an attempt to ride on the emotions of Ghanaians for their political gain.

Mr Ntim said whereas the focus of President Akufo-Addo’s SONA was on the economic situation of “our country and how quickly we are stabilising the economy and working our way back to the period of rapid economic growth”, the NDC’s address sought to exaggerate and misrepresent facts.

“The statement read by the NDC Chairman, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, was far from a document seeking to discuss the state of our country. There was no serious analysis of the economy, no assessment of sectoral developments, and no attempt to propose solutions to the current economic challenges,” he explained. 

He said ordinarily, the party would have refrained from responding to the NDC on their own version of the SONA, “however, given the extent of misinformation contained in their statement, we owe a duty to Ghanaians to straighten the distortions designed to incite disaffection rather than to inform Ghanaians.”

The NPP Chairman said anybody who refuses to accept that Ghana’s economy has been affected by COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war does not know what he or she is talking about.

“Ghana's economy was the toast of the world until Covid-19. Before 2020, Ghana was hailed among the fastest-growing economies in the world. But COVID-19 disrupted the growth momentum of our economy and later the Russia-Ukraine War. As a result of these factors, Ghana's economy, which was among the fastest-growing economies in the world, started to decelerate in 2020, and the government has committed everything in its toolkit to regenerate it,” Mr Ntim explained. 

In addition, he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the ravaging impact of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War on the global economy are visible all around us. But somehow, the NDC has refused to acknowledge or admit this fact to continue misinforming Ghanaians that this government has mismanaged the economy.”