The presidential spokesperson Mahama Ayariga has reacted to criticisms that the Mills administration is moving at a snail’s pace saying, the perceived lull in the system is “a global affair and an international matter.” “The slowdown in the economy is not a simple national affair, it’s a global affair, [and] it’s an international matter. Go to America and the economy is slow and they are pumping in so much cash,” Mr Ayariga told Super Morning Show host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah. The presidential spokesperson traced the source of such concerns to some hard liners of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who expected the government to re-award contracts – already in the hands of sympathizers of the previous government – to loyal members of the ruling party, a situation he said is “not necessarily right.” “What they are saying is that he [President Mills] was slow at …dismissing NPP functionaries or people in public offices suspected to be loyal to NPP. And the principle is that, that is not necessarily right,” Mr Ayariga lamented. “Currently, some people are building on that to say that there were opportunities that NPP members enjoyed that today,…being in office, they, as party people, are not enjoying. Question is whether it is right that they should enjoy those opportunities under the arrangements that the NPP had in office, whether or not you should totally disregard procurement procedures and award contracts to party functionaries simply on the basis that they are party people.” Mr Ayariga, however, said there are many loyal members of the ruling party who understand the pace of the Mills administration. He suggested in response to a question that although the Kufuor administration may have run at a faster pace, “there was speed in the wrong direction.” “What that speed left us is a huge budget deficit, huge debts to pay…institutions that really do not meet the mark of transparency and good governance that we have set for ourselves as a nation; systems that are not really functional. So that is where the speed sent us,” he said. The main focus of the Mills administration, Mr Ayariga indicated, is economic stability, a statement he made citing a proverbial driver on a bad road. “When you are in a vehicle that is driving recklessly in the wrong direction and you see an asphalted route towards your left, you don’t get there and turn at the top speed, you’d have to reduce the speed. You’d have to stabilize so that you can take the right direction,” he cited. As part of the stability measures, government is reducing spending, he said. “We have said, right from day one, that we are stabilizing and all the policy instruments are aimed at stabilizing; we are cutting down on spending because we need to deal with the deficit. We haven’t hidden that.” Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana