A Political Scientist, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has called on President Akufo-Addo, to revive the hopes of Ghanaians, by solving the pertinent problems in the country, instead offering explanations.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, the lecturer stated that Akufo-Addo must consider a reduction in the size of his government, in addition to other interventions.

"Apart from Free SHS, your appointees and communicators have been super-incompetent in touting your achievements in a manner that ingrains them in the psyche of the people; thereby creating the impression that not much has been done. But this may be discussed in detail in another candid letter to you another time.

For now, my focus is on the hard times in which we find ourselves. There may be several legitimate explanations accounting for the current tough times. But as the Hobbesian account of the generation of the Leviathan show, the essence of instituting a government, is not to explain, but to solve problems; so we do not relapse into the state of nature", Professor Gyampo said.

Speaking to MyJoyOnline.com after his post, he explained that as of now, there are many genuine setbacks which can be used to justify the current woes of the country. According to him, issues like COVID-19 and the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, can be blamed as the reasons for Ghana's dwindling economy.

He however stated that a party in government must deploy viable policies to address the plight of citizens instead of giving flowery explanations. Professor Gyampo said leaders who explain problems, only endear themselves to their followers, without resolving the outstanding issues.

His post on Facebook, also urged Akufo-Addo to reduce his salary by 30% and "reduce or completely suspend the payment of all the allowances and per diems that are given to people who already earn huge salaries (even when reduced by 30 per cent)".

He added that, "I have heard many of your appointees trying to offer credible explanations behind the scenes, about why we are where we are now. But with respect, Sir, we never gave a mandate for a second term for problem explanations that are inconsequential to dealing with the tangible challenges we are all experiencing now.

If something can be done, it must be done now. If nothing can be done, Ghanaians must be in the know, so they can resign themselves to fate".

In a related development, the Chairperson of the National Development Planning Commission, Professor Stephen Adei, has also called on government to reduce its expenditure in order to improve on the performance of the economy.

According to him, the country is experiencing difficulties and to salvage the situation, a possible reduction in the earnings of government appointees and Article 71 office holders would help.

Prof Adei was speaking in an interview with Raymond Acquah on JoyNews’ UpFront on Wednesday.

In his opinion, a reduction in expenditure will help government in mobilising funds to address the pertinent developmental issues in the country.

“Why should a country like Ghana have about four or five ministries of transport? … It’s incredible. In other countries, we have one minister, and then we have technical heads of these institutions. So we can reduce the size of government … Actually, under this circumstance, I think that the executive and other things must have a pay cut; maybe 25% will do”, he stated.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s current public debt stock stands at a staggering 341.8 billion Ghana cedis with a corresponding debt to GDP ratio of more than 77% as of September ending 2021.

This means if the country should share this amount across the country’s 30.8 million population, everyone will owe approximately 11,000 Ghana cedis.

In terms of interest payments on our borrowings, Ghana has spent on average 147 billion Ghana cedis, which is 47 billion Ghana cedis more than our projected revenue, plus grants for 2022.

In the first quarter of 2022, the government has indicated that it will borrow a total of GHS24.5 billion from the domestic market of which GHS20.7 billion will be used to service existing debt in the local market, leaving the government with just GHS3.8 billion to finance other expenses.