Dr Gideon Boako, Spokesperson of the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has revealed that several businesses collapsed as a result of the erratic power supply (Domsor) during the Mahama administration.
He said on the Newsfile programme on Joy FM Saturday, May 9 that the dumsor occurred as a result of incompetence and mismanagement of the economy by former President Mahama.
He was contributing to a discussion on Dr Bawumia’s recent comments that the Mahama administration failed to tackle the ‘dumsor’ crisis well.
Dr Bawumia, on Monday, in a response to Mr Mahama’s comment that COVID-19 has sent the Akufo-Addo government’s oft-touted “resilient” and “robust” economy into the ICU, said President Akufo-Addo is a better manager of crises than his predecessor.
The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had said in one of Facebook interactions with Ghanaians that: “Unfortunately, this government has used a lot of propaganda saying the economy has been the best that we have ever had since independence. Unfortunately, just one month of coronavirus the economy is in ICU. If we didn’t run to the IMF for the one billion rapid credit facility, it is possible that in the next month probably salaries would not have been paid and so our economy is on ventilators, and it needs thinking to rescue it from the ICU.”
But speaking at a media interaction after a COVID-19 response team meeting on 4 May 2020, Dr Bawumia noted that: “If you want to test the robustness of an economy, you test it in a time of crises. Thankfully, we’ve had two crises.
“Under the NDC, there was an internally-generated crisis, which was dumsor. Under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo, there’s been an externally-generated crisis, which is the global coronavirus pandemic. I just want you to ask yourselves how have these two crises been managed?
“The dumsor crisis, which crippled this economy for four years, what were the mitigating measures offered to businesses and individuals during dumsor which was an internally generated crisis?
“We saw that even during dumsor, electricity prices were being increased, fuel prices were being increased, teacher training allowances were being cancelled, nurse training allowances were being cancelled; all of that was happening during that particular crisis.”
He continued: “You look at the coronavirus crisis and you look at the difference in terms of what has happened. The President has reduced electricity prices, made it free for lifeline consumers, given free water to all Ghanaians for three months, has made sure there’s a stimulus package of GHS600 million for businesses and we have seen domestic production of PPE for our health workers.
“So, the difference couldn’t be [clear] during a leadership under the crisis of dumsor and under the coronavirus pandemic. So, I ask a simple question: Who will you trust in a time of crisis? The answer, I will say is very clear – Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has shown leadership and concern for ordinary Ghanaians.”
Dr Boako said on the show that “hairdressers were losing their business, seamstresses were losing their businesses due to the incompetence and mismanagement of the economy by Mr Mahama.
“Fuel prices were increased at time that there were dumsor. People were losing their jobs and their income and they could not support their children’s education.
“The very few who had their children going to teacher training colleges and the nursing training colleges and were given some allowance that was instituted by Mr Kufuor, Mr Mahama and the NDC looked into face of miserable Ghanaian people and at the time of dumsor cancelled teacher training allowance, cancelled nursing training allowances.”
He further noted that the reactions of Dr Bawumia to Mr Mahama were appropriate.
“When u have political elements who had the chance to be with us trying to do all in their possible means with the gains made” it’s important that the wrongs are corrected,” he said.
Responding to him, a former Deputy Minister of Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor said: “The Mahama administration did a lot of things to support businesses and Ghanaians during the dumsor.
“We supported the pharmaceutical industry with 35m dollars,” he said among other things.
He added that: “We did not borrow as you are doing.”
