Assin South Member of Parliament (MP) John Ntim Fordjour has challenged the Mahama-led government’s narrative on economic progress, insisting that improvements in macroeconomic figures mean little if citizens continue to struggle with daily living conditions.
The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee made the remarks while contributing to the debate on the 2026 State of the Nation Address delivered by John Dramani Mahama in Parliament on February 27.
According to him, official claims of economic recovery must be weighed against the real experiences of ordinary Ghanaians, many of whom, he said, continue to endure significant hardship.
“Amid all the threats in our geopolitics and amid the threat of extremism and violent extremism and terrorism, we cannot continue to have these calls go on deaf ears,” he stated.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour argued that falling inflation or exchange rates cannot be considered meaningful achievements if they do not ease the burden on citizens.
“Today we can boast about inflation going down, we can boast about exchange rate going down, but if our citizens are feeling palpable hardship, then what is the essence of what appears to be declining?” he asked.
He also raised concerns about delays in payments owed to cocoa farmers, warning that such issues weaken confidence in the government’s economic claims.
“What shall it profit this government if you are bragging about artificial economic improvement when you are not even able to pay cocoa farmers what is due them for four good months?” he said.
The lawmaker further pointed to difficulties faced by security personnel, including delayed pensions and unpaid allowances.
“What shall it profit a country to have exchange rates that appear to be low and inflation that appears to be low, when government even fails to pay the pensions of our soldiers and the rent allowances of our hardworking prison officers?” he added.
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