Private legal private practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has berated President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for failing to transform the economy from a Guggisberg state within eighteen months as he promised while in opposition. According to him, the situation was painful to the extent that it compelled citizens like himself to discharge a constitutional obligation by 'speaking truth to power'. Reacting to Akufo-Addo's state of the economy address on Accra-based Joy News on Sunday, October 30, the lawyer said President Akufo-Addo's speech was full of sloganeering stressing that nothing was going to change in terms of the prices of goods and services. Although he said some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are not happy with the state of the economy, they expect persons like himself to applaud the president. Kpebu, who admits to being a staunch supporter of Akufo-Addo in the 2016 and 2020 elections, emphasized he cannot applaud the president since he has done nothing new in his administration to deserve it. He was reacting to a question on whether or not assurances from the president to move the economy from being largely import-dependent to becoming export-oriented was enough. "… that's the one I made the point over and over. That's what he [president Akufo-Addo] refers to as the Guggisberg economy that we are not adding much value, and so when he came, 18 months…now we have done six years…I have seen some of the comments on social media. It's painful. Sometimes it's difficult for me to comment this way, but there is nothing else we have to do. "The constitution says that citizens must also play their roles, and part of the role-playing is that we speak truth to power because sometimes when I look at some of the comments on the platforms, the one from NPP sympathizers, you can see they are not happy. They expect that we should applaud the president, but there's nothing new. You heard what GPRTU said," Kpebu stated. "Bottom line, the price from Accra to Kasoa is staying the same tomorrow. The price of kenkey is staying the same as GH₵3; Koko, that has increased from GH₵1 to GH₵3 tomorrow morning, will still be GHC3. Kufuor gallon that's the oil that was GH₵500 has now gotten to GH₵1200. Tomorrow Kufuor gallon oil will still be GH₵1200. Nido, which about two weeks ago GH₵45 and was increased top GH₵60 a few days ago, tomorrow will still be GH₵60. "I have been checking prices over the past two weeks, and so the prices that increase from about two weeks ago, tomorrow when we go to the market will still be the same. So in such a case, it's difficult to applaud the president," he added. Martin Kpebu used the opportunity to further rally support for his upcoming 'kume preko' demonstration slated for November 5. Akufo-Addo, in his October 30 address on the economy, admitted that the country was in crisis while rallying support for various government interventions to stem the tide. "We are in a crisis; I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. "But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems but the long-term structural problems that have bedevilled our economy," he said. But like before, President Akufo-Addo blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as causative factors for the economic woes. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: DS/SARA