By: Brig-Gen (Rtd) J. Odei
The NDC has been in power for barely six months and the effects of their populist propaganda have already caught up with them sooner than many Ghanaians expected. The sad reality is that the landslide victory of the NDC and their serious indulgence in propaganda have clouded their sense of judgement.
There are many supporters of the Party who are already claiming their Party would be in power for the next 28 years. The early claims of successes in governance are myopic because there are signs of cracks developing when the real issues are listed. In one of my articles titled “Talk is cheap”, I remarked that winning a landslide victory is one thing and fulfilling the promises made, is another.
Since the “dumsor days” many Ghanaians are aware that the energy sector has been one area that has been tormenting the Ghanaian economy. The reason is that no government has been able to recover the cost of production in full because many Government agencies, Ministries, Security Services, Hospitals, Schools and Universities etc. do not pay ECG bills. Consequently, Ghanaians who pay the bills are the same people being surcharged to pay more.
President Akufo-Addo in his last SONA address to the nation on 3rd January 2025 stated, “when my administration assumed office, we inherited an energy sector legacy debt of $2.5 billion. The Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP), developed by my Government and the World Bank, projected that this debt would balloon to a staggering $12.5 billion within five years if no decisive actions are taken. We knew that such a scenario would cripple the sector, undermine investor confidence, and plunge the nation into darkness”.
“Mr Speaker, we got to work immediately and through tough negotiations with independent power producers (IPPs), prudent financial management, and targeted interventions, we have been able to stabilise the sector, whilst keeping the lights on. I am pleased to report that we have kept the energy sector legacy debt at $2.5 billion, the same level we inherited, and have averted the $12.5 billion debt scenario, despite the rising cost of energy production, and the global economic challenges that have unfolded during my tenure.”
The Minister of Finance Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has introduced an Energy Sector Amendment Bill under a certificate of urgency to impose new taxes on petroleum products to solve the problem. The Minister says it is necessary to clear the alarming US$3.1 billion energy debt as at the end of March, 2025. The debt includes significant arrears owed to independent power producers (PPP), various SOEs and crucial fuel suppliers. This statement is not totally true because the money is required to fill the vacuum created by the cancellation of the E-levy.
The question on the lips of many Ghanaians is that, why was the petroleum levy not included in the budget just read in parliament? The exclusion of the Petroleum Tax from the budget was a deliberate attempt to avoid criticism from the Minority and a propaganda ploy. To avoid public debate of the tax, the NDC decided to exclude it from the budget and introduced the bill as an amendment to the budget under a certificate of urgency and using their parliamentary majority has the bill passed with ease.
When the E-levy was introduced by the NPP, the hawks in the NDC described the bill in many ugly ways. John Abdulai Jinapor described it as a bill against the people of Ghana and Sam George stated that whilst it was a tax relief for the rich, it imposed a heavy tax burden on the poor people of Ghana. Sammy Gyamfi stated that the NDC hated the bill because it was a deception and Okudzeto Ablakwa described the opportunity given to Ghanaians to express their views at the various townhalls debates organised by the government as FAKE. With all these ugly comments, the NDC could not allow honest debate on the bill and decided to smuggle it through a certificate of urgency.
On the nursing issue, the NDC is behaving as if they are ignorant about the problems facing the nurses which has resulted in the current strike. It must be pointed out that the intent to strike did not start yesterday but as far back as May 2024, when the NPP was in power. The NPP was unable to meet the demands of the nurses but was engaged in discussions with the GRNMA on the best way to handle the situation. Some disgruntled elements of the Association, about 88 members, went to court and placed an injunction on the issue on July 2024.
The injunction accused their leaders for negotiating far below their demands. The lawyer for this group of nurses was Oliver Barker-Vormawor. The truth about the injunction was that it was initiated and supported by the NDC because they felt if NPP started paying the demands of the nurses, it would make NPP popular during the elections.
The aggrieved nurses finally decided to settle the matter out of court. To withdraw the case, the 88 members demanded GHC1 million as compensation and GHC300,000 as legal fees for their lawyer, Oliver Barker-Vormawor. The GRNMA refused to pay the GHC1m but agreed to pay their lawyer GHC100,000 which went to Oliver Barker-Vormawor. The case ended in January 2025 and the GRNMA went to the new finance minister who promised to include their demands in the budget because it had already been covered in the NPP handing over notes to them. The Minister Ato Forson failed to include their demands in the budget. The minister met the nurses six times prior to the strike action. These are the facts as told by Nurses’ Union Secretary and not politics. To pretend that the Ministry of Finance is not aware of the financial commitment of the nurses’ demand is a betrayal of their trust.
The issue of the 24-hour economy has emerged as per the GTV news which stated that the President intends launching this policy at the Tema Port in July 2025. Once again the element of deceit seems to have played a major role in the selection of the port in particular to cover the weaknesses in the policy. A check on the operations at the Port has revealed that the 24hr system is already been operated at the ports. Tema Port in particular, operates 4-gangs, 3 shift system. One gang is always on standby and the three remaining gangs operate on eight (8) hourly basis each, making a total of 24hours a day. To launch the policy at the Ports where the modus operandi is based on the 24-hour system is not a mere coincidence but a calculated ploy to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. This is because any credit that is due to the Port would be diverted to the 24-hour economy.
The progress that has been made at the gold sector of the economy has gladdened the hearts of many Ghanaians and its effect on strengthening the cedi against almighty dollar has sent shockwaves through the business community and encouraged investment. It is however unfortunate that attempts have been made and are being made by the NDC to deny the originators of the policy their due recognition. I do not really care if the current government claims credit but the facts on the use of gold to support the economy must be stated.
The NDC will never acknowledge any good thing of Dr Bawumia but many Ghanaians still remember that it was Dr Bawumia, who introduced gold as asset to support our currency and purchase of fuel. When the policy was introduced, so much ugly noises were made by the ignoramuses but now that the benefits have come to fruition, those who supported it or knew nothing about it are now claiming the credit. We also know that policies of this nature have a gestation period and the six months of NDC’s rule is not enough to produce this spectacular results.
Yes, it takes some time for such policies to yield positive results and the six months of NDC rule is not enough. The credit being claimed by Sammy Gyamfi the new CEO of PMMC now Goldbod is all part to the propaganda because he knows very well that he cannot produce such wonderful results within six months of assumption of office. Records available have it that gold exports have shown a significant growth trend and starting from January-March 2023 – $435.4 million was recorded. The same period in 2024, the production rose to $557.7 million and in 2025 it rose again to $1.83 billion. In April 2025 alone it was significant with a production of $897.4 million.
The NDC won the last election through effective propaganda mainly spewing lies about the government. Governance however demands certain disciplines, of which TRUTH is the most important.
