A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says he has read with utter dismay certain comments made by a senior citizen, Sam K. Jonah, in the media.

Razak Kojo Opoku said the comments sought to create or fueled the wrong impression that Ghana was experiencing a debt crisis under the watch of Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

A statement signed by the Public Relations practitioner said, "I find this gloom-ridden statement as unfortunate and inapt, especially as it is emanating from an individual who is being described in the media circles as a senior citizen. Mr. Sam Jonah should have used this opportunity better than he did."

"For records, it is absolutely false that the current government continues to borrow hugely to spend, plunging the country into a debt crisis," the statement said.

It said all the economic indicators cited by Mr. Sam Jonah to support his argument was clearly inconsistent with the true state of the Ghanaian economy.

The statement said the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Bawumiah Bawumia's government inherited a huge debt coupled with a distressed economy.

It said even in the face of the excruciating economic conditions, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government inherited, the government has managed successfully to honour the social contract the New Patriotic Party (NPP) signed with Ghanaians by implementing most of the policies and programmes they promised the good people of Ghana.

The statement said, So far so good, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government has implemented a lot of economic transformative policies and programmes aimed at bringing the economy back to life, adding, the facts and figures speak for the government's better performance in this case.

It said even if monies have been raised by President Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government mostly through bonds, it was important to point out that such monies have been used to implement policies that were non-existent since the 4th Republic.

"Heavily capital intensive projects such as One-District-One-Factory, One-Village-One-Dam, Planting for Food and Jobs, One-Constituency-One-Ambulance, Railway Infrastructure, Digitization and Digitalization of the Ghanaian economy are all projects that are financed by the bonds raised by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government".

The statement said Mr Sam Jonah should have at least shown appreciation to the good initiatives implemented by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government aimed at formalizing the economy, ensuring a fast rate of development in all the areas of the economy and positioning Ghana to compete fairly and squarely with the advanced economies.

"We all know the effects of the COVID-19 on the world economy and Ghana in particular. The government of Akufo-Addo-Bawumia provided free water, free electricity and free food to Ghanaians. At the same time, about 88 district hospitals are being constructed to transform the healthcare system in Ghana.

"All these efforts are supported by the bonds and the domestic revenue generation efforts of Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government".

It added that it was very sad and even regrettable to read Mr Sam Jonah’s commentary on the mining industry and that historical records on Ghana's mining seriously do not even favour Sam Jonah’s contributions to the particular sector of the economy.

"Mr San Jonah did not put any measures in place to prevent Galamsey in Obuasi when he was the President/Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields Corporation and did not put any efforts to transform the Obuasi mining community".

"Currently, senior citizen Sam Jonah is the owner and Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, an equity fund based in Johannesburg, South Africa and if he means well for the country's economic transformation, he wouldn't have set up and operated his company in South Africa".

The statement said Mr Sam Jonah pays majority of his taxes, including corporate taxes to the government of South Africa to the detriment of the Ghana's government and question how Mr Sam Jonah want Akufo-Addo-Bawumia's government to stop borrowing if he is continuously investing in the South African economy and paying taxes to the South African government ratter than Ghana.