Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam Antah, has raised questions over President Mahama’s comments on how the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration handled the economy.
The President, during his meeting with Organised Labour Thursday, February 20, 2025, described Ghana as a “crime scene” with regards to how abysmal the previous government administered affairs.
According to him, the Akufo-Addo administration was so reckless in its decisions on the economy, making it impossible for the government to adhere to the demands that were being made by Organised Labour.
The Labour unions had made a 60% wage hike proposal to the government who earlier decided to grant 6%. However, upon agreement between the two parties, a 10% increment was settled on, effective March 1, 2025.
“We all knew the economy was in crisis, but some of the things I am uncovering myself reveal a criminal mishandling of our economy. Ghana is now a crime scene,” Mahama declared. “How can a government be so reckless? I cannot understand,” he added.
Reacting to the comments, the immediate past Finance Minister said there couldn’t have been a fiscal crisis few weeks after the new administration took over, to limit the government from meeting the demands of public sector workers.
In a Facebook post, Dr Adam questioned how an economy labelled as “criminally mishandled” could support significant pay increases for public sector workers throughout 2023 and 2024 but now struggles to manage even modest wage adjustments.
“How could an economy described as ‘criminally mishandled’ afford a 30% base pay increase in 2023, followed by 23% from January to June 2024, and 25% from July to December 2024, all while maintaining respectable fiscal deficits?” he quizzed, questioning what could have happened in a space of two months.
“What has changed between December 2024 and February 2025 that suddenly put the economy in crisis, which cannot afford an adjustment in the base pay above 10%?”
‘The cooking pot is leaking, tamper your demands for this year’ – Mahama to Organised Labour
