The National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration is purposefully carrying out some of the programs started by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, but without the corruption that dogged it, according to Ibrahim Murtala Muhammad, the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central.
During the discussion of the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review that Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson gave to Parliament last Thursday, Hon. Murtala—who is also the Environment, Science, and Technology Minister—criticized the NPP for failing to recognize the progress made by President John Dramani Mahama’s administration.
“Deep-seated corruption, gross incompetence, and economic mismanagement, which, in his opinion, plunged the country into hardship,” he said of the old NPP government.
“My only issue is that we refuse to continue with one thing: the corruption. We didn’t continue with that,” he said.
Murtala made fun of the NPP’s frequently made assertion that the dollar had been “arrested,” saying it was just hollow rhetoric.
“Is it that my honourable friend is uncomfortable that this government has arrested the fugitive dollar?” he asked. “We were told the dollar had been arrested and locked up at the Police Headquarters, but under our watch, we have truly brought the dollar to order, and it’s not a fluke,” he said.
“We can speak all the big grammar and economic jargon, but my grandmother in the village, selling porridge, isn’t interested in that. The people want to feel change in their pockets,” he reiterated.
Hon. Murtala criticized the Minority for using a lot of fancy syntax and complicated economic jargon, emphasizing that regular Ghanaians are more concerned with making their lives better.
He cited the value of the cedi rising and food inflation falling as concrete outcomes of the Mahama-led NDC government.
The member bemoaned what he called the Akufo-Addo administration’s pervasive corruption.
He referenced claims made by a previous NPP flagbearer candidate that it would cost $20,000 to gain access to the president.
“Isn’t that shameful? These are not my words. These are the words of your leading member. That is how bad it got,” he stated.
He compared former President Nana Akufo-Addo’s leadership style with that of President Mahama. He maintained that while President Mahama is combating corruption, former President Akufo-Addo’s office turned into a bribery stronghold. You can see the difference.
The former government, according to Hon. Murtala, sold fertilizer that was obviously marked “Not for Sale,” undercutting initiatives to assist regional farmers.
“Even fertiliser that was boldly marked ‘Not for Sale’ was sold to our struggling farmers. You destroyed every sector of this economy,” he said.
He pointed out that although the present NDC government is just one year old, it has already started to clean up the mess the NPP administration left behind.
“We haven’t even applied the second year of our economic strategy. We are still cleaning the mess. By the time we enter the second and third years, Ghanaians will tell our good friends in the NPP, ‘Goodbye,’ he stressed.
The MP for Tamale Central highlighted the lasting consequences of the purported NPP misrule with the following proverb:
He remarked, “The one who sleeps with an itching anus wakes up with smelly fingers. The mess you created still lingers—and everyone can smell it.”
Murtala called for a national dedication to integrity and responsibility in government. He restated that actual action, not rhetoric or noise, is what the NDC is providing.
“Ghana deserves better, and the NDC is delivering—with action, not noise,” he said.
Source: newsthemegh.com