‘We came to meet 2 fishes and 5 loaves, today we marvel at how it has been multiplied’ – Ofori-Atta

Speaking on the floor of parliament, during his presentation of the 2024 Budget and Financial Statement, on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, Ofori-Atta said that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government came to meet a country under a dire situation but has managed to turn things around.

He reiterated that the government has been able to multiply the very meagre resources it came to meet into several folds.

This achievement, he added, is the “Lord’s doing”.

“Mr. Speaker, that is the promise of this Budget. And we will keep our eyes firmly fixed on the future and build lasting prosperity for this and the next generation.

“Mr. Speaker, as members recall, we came into government in 2017, in a period of despondency and meagre resources of 2 fish and 5 loaves. Today, we can only marvel at how far the Lord has multiplied our resources,” he said.

Ofori-Atta added, “Mr. Speaker, I stood here in March 2017 and asked that the country’s paltry 2 fishes and 5 loaves be multiplied. Indeed, as the young boy gave all he had to the multitude, so have we and the Lord, in response, has blessed our nation, and this we should not forget”.

He then proceeded to state some achievements of the Akufo-Addo government as follows:

i. From a nominal GDP of GH¢262 billion in 2017 to GH¢1 trillion in 2024

ii. Invested in the future of our children under the free SHS programme with 1,261,495 students having access to secondary education.

iii. Supported the poor and vulnerable through an enhanced LEAP programme by increasing the number of beneficiary households from 212,545 in 2017 to 350,000 households in 2023 with the aim of further increasing this to 450,000 over the medium term.

iv. Invested in providing one hot nutritious meal per day to 3,260,468 pupils in our basic schools and provided a study income stream for 32,496 caterers.

v. Invested the most in the construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of major road networks across the country.

vi. Supported small businesses with GH¢750 million during the COVID-19 pandemic through the CAP-Buss programme and other interventions.

vii. Invested in making sure that all public workers were paid every month during the COVID pandemic including the teachers who were paid for all the nine months when the academic calendar was disrupted.

viii. Invested to strategically establish over 160 factories across all districts under the 1D1F programme

ix. Investing in the expansion of health infrastructure in every district under the Agenda 111 initiative.

Credit: Myinfogh