Mahama disregarded NPP’s economic recovery in SONA — Abena Osei-Asare fires back
Former Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Mrs. Abena Osei-Asare, has strongly rebutted President John Mahama’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), accusing him of deliberately downplaying Ghana’s economic recovery under the previous NPP administration while portraying a misleading narrative of collapse.
In her detailed response, the Atiwa East MP criticized Mahama for painting an excessively bleak picture of the economy, disregarding the decisive interventions that had stabilized it before he took office.
“The NPP never denied Ghana’s economic challenges, but we took bold and responsible actions that restored stability. The IMF even confirmed this by giving the economy a clean bill of health,” she stated.
According to her, under the NPP administration, Ghana’s economy demonstrated significant resilience and recovery.
The banking sector’s total assets experienced a remarkable surge, increasing from GH¢81.2 billion in 2016 to GH¢367.2 billion in 2024, reflecting strengthened financial stability.
Private sector credit also saw a substantial rebound, growing by 28.8% in 2024, a stark contrast to the 7.5% contraction in 2023, signaling renewed business confidence.
Additionally, Gross International Reserves improved from $5.9 billion in 2023 to $7.7 billion in 2024, ensuring stronger external financial security.
Despite global economic pressures, the cedi remained relatively stable, with a controlled depreciation from GH₵ 12.4 per dollar in 2023 to GH₵ 14.50 in 2024, highlighting effective fiscal and monetary management.
She further dismissed Mahama’s claims of inheriting an empty treasury, emphasizing that the NPP left behind resources to meet early 2025 debt service obligations, including GH¢6 billion for bondholder payments.
“He boasted about a $250 million sinking fund in 2016 but ignored the $1 billion in external debt repayments the NPP had to cover in 2017,” she remarked.
Rejecting Mahama’s assertion that the economy was “criminally handled”, she cited real GDP growth of 6.3% in 2024, led by 10.4% growth in industry, and a positive primary balance of 0.4%, a significant improvement from 2016.
Mrs. Osei-Asare also took issue with Mahama’s introduction of new social intervention programs like Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda (AETA), Feed Ghana, One Million Coders, and Ghana Medical Trust Fund (MahamaCare) without a clear financing strategy.
“For an economy supposedly in ‘intensive care,’ one would expect responsible economic planning. Instead, Mahama announced grand programs with no indication of how they will be funded,” she said, warning against a return to reckless public spending that led to Ghana’s 2015 IMF bailout under the NDC.
She dismissed Mahama’s proposed National Economic Dialogue as a political maneuver, urging the president to focus on execution rather than endless consultations.
“Governance is about leadership and action, not deferring responsibility through committees,” she stated.
Concluding her response, Osei-Asare called on Mahama to move beyond political blame and focus on Ghana’s future.
“A leader obsessed with looking back will eventually stumble. Ghana needs vision, not revisionism. We must build on progress, not dismantle it.”