We've challenges but economy not in distress – Kwakye-Ofosu

Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, a member of the communication team of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) says though the economy needs a major boost in all sectors, he believes the current administration has made tremendous strides in alleviating the economic problems confronting Ghanaians as compared to the efforts by previous governments.

He believes initiatives being rolled out by the Mahama-led NDC government will help address the challenges facing the nation.

He said the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Scheme (SSSS) saw government wage bill increase from GHC 2.5 billion to an amount of GHC 8 billion. He said government is adopting new strategies to enhance productivity and ensure a high improvement in the working condition of public sector workers.

“We have suffered some imbalances. In other words, a large chunk of what we earn as a nation in terms of revenue, 60.9% or 61% goes into the payment of these salaries. The President was simply making the point that this has stifled government’s ability to make investment in other critical sectors…in infrastructure, in social services, energy, agriculture…It also does not mean that our economy is collapsing.” he inferred from President Mahama’s nation address.

He said the NDC government is making strides in other sectors like education with a lot of room for improvement.

“If you look at our education sector, there has been massive improvement upon the situation that we inherited...there are 5 million pupils in basic education, that is 25% of our population. About 20% of school children who should be in school are outside of the educational bracket but it is a much better situation than it was previously. There were times where 60% of people who should be in school were outside.”