Sammi Awuku, former NLA boss
The Member of Parliament for Akuapem North, Sammi Awuku, has challenged claims by President John Mahama that the previous administration mismanaged Ghana’s economy.
According to him, former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo managed the economy better than Mahama did during his previous administration.
He explained that inflation alone is not the sole macroeconomic indicator of economic performance.
On his Facebook wall on February 28, 2025, he wrote, “Was the economy criminally managed?” This has been the main question asked by the media since yesterday.
He stated, “My response has been an explanation that inflation is just one of the various macroeconomic indicators used to measure the performance of an economy. The fact that the general level of prices has gone up does not mean the economy was criminally managed.”
Sammi Awuku compared the performance of President Mahama to that of Akufo-Addo, stating, “In any case, Mahama inherited an economy with inflation at 9.4% from Mills. He pushed it up to 15.4% by December 2016. Akufo-Addo worked hard to tame inflation, bringing it down to 7.6% in September 2019, the lowest in 28 years! (Source: BoG)”
The former NLA boss noted that the Akufo-Addo administration faced significant challenges due to the global economic crisis triggered by COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“After the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation rose to 13.6% by January 2022. Soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the global price of crude oil surged from $72 to $121 per barrel. Freight charges increased by 300%. As a result, Germany experienced its highest inflation in 70 years, while the UK and US recorded their highest inflation in 40 years. This imported inflation significantly contributed to Ghana’s inflation rising to 54% by the end of 2022,” he said.
“However, the NPP government responded with policy measures to address the problem. Inflation hovered around 23% at the time Akufo-Addo handed over the economy to Mahama,” he added.
Sammi Awuku further emphasized that the Akufo-Addo administration recorded higher growth levels than Mahama in 2016.
“The ‘criminally managed’ economy still recorded over 6% growth, higher than Mahama’s 3.4% in 2016. Nana Addo’s average fiscal deficit was lower compared to Mills/Mahama’s. Nana Addo left an economy with a trade surplus, whereas John Mahama left an economy with a trade deficit in 2016. Nana Addo left almost $9 billion in gross international reserves to protect the cedi, while Mahama left only $6.1 billion,” he said.
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