Former President, John Drama­ni Mahama has pledged to initiate innovative policies to revive Ghana’s ailing economy for growth when elected as President in this year’s general election.

He said the recent crisis being confronted by the country was attributed to lack of political will and leadership to undertake measures to forestall the wors­ening economic situation here in Ghana.

The Ex-Ghanaian leader who is also the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was addressing chiefs and traditional leaders at the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs in Bolgatanga at the weekend, said the next NDC government would relieve Ghanaians from the nuisance taxes imposed on them by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The former President’s visit to the region forms part of his Building Ghana tour.

According to him, his pro­posal to implement a 24-hour economy to rejuvenate the econ­omy and make life bearable to the ordinary citizen was as a result of broader consultations he had with pre-eminent stakeholders, and he would redeem his pledge in that direction to salvage the insurmountable economic woes, if voted into power at this year’s general elections.

“We in the NDC always take the trouble to go round the coun­try and interact with the people of all walks of life to find out what they want the NDC to do if they win political power. And we have adopted that practice, and the people themselves tell us their challenges so we capture them in our manifesto,” former President Mahama indicated.

Mr Mahama criticised the government for mismanaging the economy, alleging that the coun­try was going through tougher times because of the excessive borrowing “and let no one tells you otherwise.”

He said the country’s econom­ic crisis was self-inflicted because government in the last seven years had borrowed top the tune of $13.5 billion, saying all the monies went into consumption rather than production.

Former President Mahama said the economy was already in­capacitated, and could not thrive under monstrous debts.

According to him, the gov­ernment had turned deaf ears to calls from independent-minded personalities to cut expenditure to reduce the growing public debt.

“Government has decided to impose heavy taxes on the people to pay off its debts, and when you impose so many taxes on the people, the economy stops growing,” he explained, and urged Ghanaians to vote out the NPP during the upcoming general elec­tions to save the economy from collapse.

The President for the Regional House of Chiefs and Paramount Chief for the Chiana Traditional Area, Pe Detundini Adiali Ayagi­tam III, appealed to the NDC flagbearer to intervene to bring peace to Bawku, as two factions had been locked up in a chieftain­cy dispute since November 2021.

The disturbances, he stated, had claimed hundreds of lives, adding that the crisis there had erupted into proportions beyond human imaginations.

In a related development, Mr­Mahama paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Bawku, Zug-Ran Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, and made a clarion call to the two factions to allow peace prevail.