Former Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has said that President Mahama’s admission that the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the economy of Ghana is “by the grace of God.”
The issue of whether the deadly global pandemic which hit the world between 2020 and 2022 became topical in Ghana’s 2024 election campaign, with contrasting positions by the two main political parties.
While the then ruling NPP insisted the pandemic set the economy back with uncertain markets and revenue cuts, leading to soaring cost of living, the opposition NDC, led by President Mahama rejected the then government’s claim that, maintaining that Covid-19 did not have any negative impact on Ghana’s economy.
However, in New York, at a side event of the 80th UN General Assembly, President Mahama conceded that Covid-19 indeed has had a devastating impact on Ghana’s economy.
“The Covid-19 pandemic erased two decades of poverty reduction in less than two years,” President Mahama said at the event.
Responding to the development during his campaign tour of the Eastern Region, Dr. Bawumia said the President knew the truth during the 2024 election campaign.
“From 2022 when the impact of covid-19 hit the country’s economy, prices of goods and went up . And during the 2024 election, we said that the cost of living had been largely impacted by covid-19 and the Russian-Ukraine war. When wr said that, Presidemt Mahama and the NDC said we were lying,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“They said covid-19 had no impact on the economy . They said it was rather economic mismanagement. But I have read that Presidemt Mahama in New York has said that covid-19 really impacted economies. He said a lot of our poverty reduction efforts in many many years have been twarted by covid-19.”
“The President knew the truth but he didn’t say it during the campaign. But by the grace of God he has now said the truth. And by God’s grace, we will all see the truth.”