Minority in Parliament, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has accused Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, of being untruthful and inconsistent in his presentations on the Ghanaian economy. Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority leader, at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday said: “He has been consistently providing falsehoods and half-truths when it suits him. He is an honourable man and we want to advise him to be honourable about the information he gives.” The Minority leader, who was reacting to government’s supplementary budget recently presented to Parliament by the Minister, said the financial statement is not only misleading but it is creating the impression that the NPP administration performed badly, regarding the country’s economy. Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the use of words such as “run-down economy and poor economic managements” which the Minister used in both his March and Mid-year review and supplementary budgets presentations demonstrates that the Minister had a hidden agenda against the NPP administration, particularly when he was the Governor of Bank of Ghana at the time. The Minority leader wondered why the Minister should continue hyping the fact that the NPP administration run-down the economy when all indications are clear that the NPP performed better in terms of head-to-head. He said “In 2000, when the NDC government was leaving office, the total debt to GDP ratio stood at 186 %, meaning that we needed almost two times our national income to pay off all our debts, but in 2008 when the NPP government was about to leave office, the total debt to GDP ratio stood at only 46 %, meaning we needed less than one-half of our income to pay off all our debts”. Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added that in 2000, real terms economic growth was 3.7 %, but rose to 7.3% as at the time the NPP was leaving office while per capita income in 2000 stood at $290 as compared $720 as at the time NPP government was leaving office. The Minority leader who is also the Member of Parliament for Suame, said the Economic Minister is being hypocritical by presenting the true picture of the economy to IMF and World Bank and yet presenting a different picture to Parliament and to all Ghanaians. Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said “The question Ghanaians want the Minister to answer is which information about the state of the economy is correct; the one he characterizes as ‘run-down’ or the one he described in his June 2009 letter to the IMF? “Clearly, we know he cannot lie to the IMF, because the sanctions will be most severe as occurred in 2001, when Ghana was made to pay back almost $34 million as a result of NDC government’s misreporting on our external debt in 2000”, he noted. He said the NDC government’s claim that it has put the economy back on track is not convincing, as arrears amounting to GH¢139.2 million is at hand with GH¢10 million of the District Assemblies Common fund in arrears and GH¢25.5 in arrears for Ghana Education Trust Fund (GET fund). Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, called on the Minister to present issues as they are and stop using political language in his presentations as such political language and falsehoods could create negative impact on the country’s reputation. Source: GNA