Eugene Boakye Antwi, the former Member of Parliament for Subin, has stated that the best years of former president Akufo-Addo’s 8-year tenure were 2018, 2020.
According to Eugene Boakye Antwi, Ghana’s economy was on the right track before COVID-19 struck and all hell broke loose.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Face to Face on Tuesday, July 1, Eugene Boakye Antwi stated, “I’m not worried because some of us anticipated it [2024 electoral defeat]. If you fail to listen to people, they punish you. So, as politicians, we must constantly be listening and hearing people out. And that is what we failed to do”.
“We have to be very frank with ourselves, the best years of Akufo-Addo’s 8 years [tenure] were 2018, 2020, before COVID-19 struck. Those were his best years.
In your first term, you are expected to be voted for the second term, so you’re working towards your second term. So there’s more cooperation, and because you know you have to go and face the electorate again, you are careful of certain mistakes,” he explained.
“But the second term, because you’re not going to contest again, I think all hell broke loose and it cost us,” he added.
The former lawmaker added, “The economy was on the right track before COVID-19 struck. COVID-19 struck, and all hell broke loose. We then had to introduce more austere policies like the E-Levy, Betting Tax, and what have you. And those kinds of policies did not help”.
“After the International Monetary Fund, there were other austere policies like the DDEP, and what have you. Former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo addressed the nation and assured our savers, pensioners, and investors of no haircut, but there was a haircut. The haircut wiped away investments, pensions, and savings. And that hurt us very badly. It just didn’t impact the economy; it wounded us,” he stressed.
Eugene Boakye Antwi further boldly stated he wants President John Dramani Mahama to fail.
According to Eugene Boakye Antwi, he wants his party, the NPP, to win the 2028 elections, so he wants John Mahama and the NDC to fail.
He boldly asserted that the NDC cannot do much in terms of what they promised Ghanaians.
Boakye Antwi added, “I want him [Mahama] to fail, I want my party to win the 2028 elections. I don’t want him to fail, as in fail. But I know that NDC cannot do much in terms of what they promised”.
“I have been in government, and sometimes, as a President, your appointees will make sure that you fail. The kind of things I saw when we were in government are the same Ghanaians in the NDC, so it will be transferred across there,” he explained.
He reaffirmed, “I don’t want Mahama to succeed as in succeeding, because I want my party [NPP] to win… In terms of the actual management of the economy, I don’t think the NDC has what it takes”.
