Policy Analyst, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby says President John Mahama and his appointees appear to be expressing contradictory views about the performance of his government last year.

According to Dr. Wereko-Brobby, while president Mahama admits to difficulties confronting the nation, his appointees, some of whom are barely a year in office, are scoring themselves high marks.

Citing comments made at a 'Special Forum' organised by government on Monday January 6, ahead of the first anniversary of the administration which painted a rosy picture about the government's performance, Dr. Wereko-Brobby said it is problematic that the president and his appointees were singing different tunes.

"The president's lieutenants yesterday [Monday] gave themselves A+++...and that I'm afraid is going to be part of the challenge that we have.

"We have a president who is singing from one hymn sheet and all the people who are there to help him [may be with a few exceptions] want to actually pretend that everything is rosy," the Chief Policy Analyst of the Ghana Institute of Policy Options (GIPPO) noted.

Tarzan as he also called, was contributing to discussions on the Joy FM Super Morning Show, Tuesday January 7, to assess the performance of the administration on the occasion of its first anniversary.

Avoiding blame

Tarzan also criticised president John Mahama for attempting to blame the challenges faced by his government on late John Atta Mills' administration of which he [Mahama] was part.

According to him, there is a certain tendency to suggest that the John Mahama administration is "completely new" and divorced from the Mills-administration when in fact Mr. Mahama served as vice president "and played a very important role" in that administration.

"The president has been disarmingly honest from the word go. I didn't expect the president to say that all the meat has been chopped and it is left with bones.

"The admission of difficulties cannot in a sense be traced to 2008; we must look at what had happened in the last four or five years," he stressed.

Slow start

Admitting that the administration took off at a slow pace, Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga however blamed that on the petition challenging the legitimacy of the Mahama presidency early last year.

"Eight months of what happened during the Supreme Court litigation was a very challenging period but we went through it successfully," Mr. Ayariga stated.

He also pointed out that in 2014 government would put in measures to transform the economy.

"You will see that the economy will move at a faster pace, productivity will increase, industry will have more access to capital to be able to expand...I can assure you that more jobs will be created and we would begin to see the fruits of the sacrifice that all of us are making presently".