Use state purchasing power to support economy – Nduom tells Mahama

The founder of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) Dr Papa Kwesi Ndoum has asked government to use the state purchasing power to support the Ghanaian economy.

He argued that in trying to ensure stability in the Ghanaian economy, government’s support to local businesses with the state’s purchasing power would be immensely helpful.

Speaking on a number of issues in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM Wednesday morning, Dr Nduom said there was no bigger pocket in Ghana than the government’s pocket and there was no big decision maker in the country than President John Dramani Mahama.

“The President for instance could use the purchasing power by giving road contracts to Ghanaians and deciding that projects where you cannot find Ghanaians to do it, you will give it to foreigners but ensure that you will attach Ghanaians to it,” he said.

According to him, the President could also ask all state agencies to buy only made in Ghana products and only resort to buying foreign things which are not produced in Ghana.

Dr Nduom, who was speaking for the first time in a sit-down interview on radio since December 2012, said one did not have to go far to know there was difficulty in Ghana.

Outsourcing contracts to Ghanaian companies and encouraging the private sector should be the way forward, he said.

He said an action plan of the national economic dialogue was the way to develop the country arguing that, “it’s not about lack of ideas, but the inability to implement what we have decided on and lack of supervision on part of leadership was the problem."

He said many of the decisions taken at past national economic dialogues have not been implemented.

According to Dr Nduom, he has a chart of Ghana’s economy from 1995 which indicates how the economy has performed over the years and that it sometimes goes up and sometimes comes down.

“Our economic problem is not about the world bank or IMF measures. We have choices to make and we must take advantage of what needs to be done. We are in control of our economy but we are just making bad decisions," he noted.

He attributed the depreciation of the cedi to Ghanaian attitude and the need to fix the fundamentals by encouraging local industries to produce, which he explained would help stop the depreciation of the cedi.

He assessed that the economy was performing poorly and was in need of urgent resuscitation. 

On corruption, he said the president was not doing enough to fight it, although he said the President meant well for the country.

He therefore advised the President to translate those good intentions into good urgent actions.