Mahama Shortchanged Ghanaians by Spending $260m On Circle Interchange – Bempah

A Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ernest Owusu Bempah has reiterated his point that former President John Dramani Mahama shortchanged Ghanaians by spending $ 260 million to construct the Circle Interchange.

Mr Bempah described the action of the former President as reckless.

Speaking on the Big Issue on TV3 Thursday, March 30, he said “under Mahama administration, they spent $260 million to build that reckless circle interchange. When you compare that to Pokuase Interchange it tells you that somebody is recklessly incompetent.

“They shortchanged the Ghainans $260million. NPP comes to power but we used $ 289 million to build four interchanges, one of them being one of the biggest in Africa which is the Pokuase interchange.”

Mr Owusu Bempah earlier stated that “we all know our political history, what has Mahama got to offer the people of Ghana? As Vice President, as a caretaker president and the sitting president, for six-year he ran the economy like a casino economy. His key legacy was dumsor which was a nightmare for every Ghanaian, hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost.

“The Economy was on its knees when there was no global crisis, running GDP of 3 percent.

“We handed over an economy that had discovered oil in commercial quantity, GDP was about 14 percent when we were leaving power but when Mahama took over before 2012, GDP dropped to 3.5 percent GDP, that tells how he ran the economy down. This is the economy that NDC left, with abysmal performance in all sectors.

“The ordinary barber, the hairdresser, the trotro driver suffered, we were not in a pandemic yet this was the growth, it was terrible under NDC. In 2013 depreciation of the Cedi was 14.5 percent, in 2014 it was 31.3 percent depreciation, we are talking about the dead goat. Most of the Ghanaian industry collapsed under NDC regime, from PNDC to Mahama NDC so I am daring them to come and tell us that it is not right.

“In the banking sector, the interest rate was about 35 to 40 percent under Mahama, high cost of borrowing, there was no crisis, and corruption was the order of the day, Mahama institutionalized corruption in this country, they made corruption part of our body politics, to the extent that the leader himself was part, such as Kanazoe fiasco, Airbus scandal, Isofotone. A company cited by Bloomberg and New York Times as one of the most corrupt companies in the world was awarded the $260 million contract to build the circle interchange.

“Under Akufo, $289 million was used to build four interchanges in the Ghana, Obetsebi, Pokuase, Tema and Tamale interchange.

“When it comes to education, children who were from poor families couldn’t get access to free education under social democratic dead goat. Parents could not take their children to school because they are poor. Today, under a limping elephant over 5 million children since NPP took over have been able to access SHS education.

“The energy sector, the debt they left before they left power is absolutely unthinkable. They signed the ENI Sankofa contract which made Sankofa gas the most expensive gas in the world that today the ordinary Ghanaian is paying for. So when they talk about increasing debts it is them. Ghanaians should be wise, Mahama is coming for just four, he was six years,and this is his legacy so will they choose a dead goat over a limping elephant.”