Underestimating COVID-19’s impact on Ghana’s economic mess is unfair - Okoe-Boye

He said discounting the pandemic will be unfair to the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

“Just as the president stated from his SONA, I also appreciate some of the challenges the people are going through. I buy fuel myself and even with my 1.2 CC V4 Vehicle, I have realized the fuel I used to buy has doubled,” he told Alfred Ocansey on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show.

He added “Power was not stable before the NPP came into office in 2017, there was no Free SHS, and the government was not employing. Even the very advanced economies of the world are struggling with the impact of COVID 19. We should be careful not to undermine the essence of government interventions because of the challenges associated with them.

“The fact that we are in a crisis doesn’t mean we should go and create a crisis elsewhere. Nobody should make a mistake to say let’s abandon Free Senior High School.”

“If anybody in this country decides to talk about the economic challenges in our country without considering the impact of COVID economically, that is unfair. Largely we have come through this crisis and the government is doing everything possible to better the economy.”

Relatedly, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu said the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 are to blame for Ghana’s challenges.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori- Atta Pulse Ghana

“Once petroleum prices go up, of course, you’ll see the fares of transport going up and it also has effect on the goods that we produce in the countryside and bringing them down to the cities,” the MP for Suame told the Parliamentary correspondent of Asaase Radio Philip Asiawo.

“So, food prices are going to go up. Again, unfortunately, the COVID-19 experience and the Russian invasion of Ukraine experience; the combined effect of the two really, are going to inflict untold hardship on Ghanaians,” he said.

“The government wanted to introduce a new tax because where we were heading to, we realised that the debt burden of this country was increasing.”