Former Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei-Asare has punched holes in President John Dramani Mahama’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of his second term, arguing that he failed to establish a clear governance agenda.
In his address on Thursday, February 27, 2025, President Mahama offered a grim assessment of the Ghanaian economy and committed to restoring stability.
However, Mrs Osei-Asare, the Member of Parliament for Atiwa East, in a Facebook post, characterized the speech as filled with “populist promises, economic doomsaying, and blame-shifting.”
She expressed concern over the president’s vague plans for funding his proposed social intervention programmes.
“President John Dramani Mahama’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) was expected to set the tone for his administration’s governance agenda. Instead, it was a predictable mix of economic doom-saying, political blame-shifting, and populist promises without a credible funding plan.
“In addition to creating a gloomy picture of the economy he has inherited, the President has outlined heavy expansionary fiscal policies that, at best, may be considered populist and unsustainable. It is ironic that, on the one hand, the President describes the economy as being in an intensive care unit (ICU), yet, on the other hand, he is pushing for massive new social intervention programs without indicating how they will be financed,” she highted in her post.
Find the Facebook post below.