Hon. Dominic Nitiwul, MP for Bimbila
Barely eight months into the Atta Mills led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bimbila Constituency in the Northern Region, Hon. Dominic Nitiwul, believes that the government is not in control of Ghana’s economy.
“I think that the NDC has allowed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to manage the economy for them,” Hon. Dominic Nitiwul emphatically stated.
According to him, instead of managing the economy themselves, President Atta Mills and his NDC have allowed outsiders to actually dictate for them.
The Bimbila MP was speaking to TODAY in an interview in Accra.
“I am saying this for a reason: If a government campaigned on the fact that they would give the youth jobs and you implement a policy that seeks to freeze employment in the public sector then obviously, the only logical conclusion that comes to mind is that somebody is really pushing and forcing this down the throat of President Mills and the NDC,” Hon. Dominic Nitiwul told TODAY.
The legislator could not comprehend why a political party like the NDC that campaigned on making Ghana a better place to live and give people jobs, could only change the trend of affairs after winning power.
“President Mills said I will come and give people jobs only to come and turn 360 degrees round and say that I am not going to employ anyone into the public sector or I will not expand the public sector unless somebody dies,” Hon Dominic Nitiwul noted.
“Why will anybody say that government should stop giving subsidies to utility companies such as Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company?” the lawmaker furiously questioned.
He added that “We do know that these are the things that our poor people need.”
The Bimbila MP was surprised such a directive could come from the NDC, a government that said it indeed cared for the people.
“This policy, obviously, cannot come from a government that said it cares for the people of Ghana during the 2008 electioneering campaign,” pointed the law maker.
He went on to say that “I can only conclude that it fell down their throat. The NDC government under President Atta Mills said that it was not going to appoint a Minister for public sector reform but they ended up appointing one. I can only say that they were being forced to do it.”
Touching on taxes, the Bimbila MP said the Mills government promised never to increase taxes but the NDC appeared to be doing the contrary.
“President Mills said that. Mark my lips ‘there wouldn’t be any new taxes under my government, that is what he said; Now what are we seeing? Today, as I speak now we have 5% stabilization levy introduced by the NDC government under President John Evans Atta Mills. I can say for a fact that 50% increase in airport taxes is also coming, as well as VAT increases in certain key areas.” Hon Dominic Nitiwul stressed.
He also hinted that government has the intention of putting 20% import duty on rice, cooking oil, yellow corn and vegetable oil.
This, he explained, will bring serious untold hardships to the people of Ghana, particularly the poor.
“Why would any government that campaigned to reduce fuel drastically come and increase fuel by 45%?” he further queried, adding that “here again, the only logical reasoning is that somebody is pushing and forcing these initiatives down their throats otherwise they would not do that which is obviously the World Bank and the IMF.”
“This is why I am saying that our economy is being managed by somebody somewhere and not in Ghana,” the Bimbila MP stated.
He advised President Mills and the NDC government to stop depending on the World Bank and IMF.
The lawmaker contended that nowhere in this world has the IMF and the World Bank helped any country to survive.
“The IMF and the World Bank are what we call lenders of last resort. When you turn left and right and you don’t know where to go, that is where you go to them and they have never helped any country to progress,” the legislator intimated.
He said no country has ever progressed under the guidance of the World Bank and IMF.
“That is the reason in 2006 President Kufuor said that Ghana has grown enough so we are going to cut links with the IMF and World Bank and decided that we go out to the international capital market and get our money. And that is one of the reasons that led to the issuing of the Eurobond which was so successful, “the MP further explained.
By William Beeko & Kelvin Adu-Twum Peprah
how does he know those imf and world bank are controllin ndc it may be true but he needs concrete evidence