‘The Plane Is Not Taking Off’ – Manso Nkwanta MP Challenges Mahama’s Economic Optimism

The Member of Parliament for Manso Nkwanta, Tweneboah Kodua Fokuo, has dismissed President John Dramani Mahama’s assertion that Ghana’s economy is in “take-off mode,” insisting that the country remains stuck on what he described as a “narrow runway.”
Contributing to the debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address in Parliament in Tuesday March 3, 2026, the MP argued that the much-touted economic recovery has failed to materialize in real terms.
“Mister Speaker, the President told Ghanaians to buckle their seat belts because the economy is about to take off. But the plane is not taking off. We are stuck on a narrow runway. The aircraft has not left the ground,” he declared.
According to him, the government’s economic management strategy is overly focused on short-term currency stabilization rather than long-term structural transformation.
He accused economic managers of concentrating primarily on purchasing gold, converting it into dollar liquidity, and injecting those funds into the foreign exchange market to shore up reserves and defend the cedi.
“This is currency management, not structural transformation,” he emphasized.
Citing data from the Ghana Statistical Service, Mr. Fokuo said growth momentum is clearly slowing.
He noted that real GDP growth declined from 7 per cent in the third quarter of 2024 to 5.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, a 1.5 percentage point drop representing a 21 per cent slowdown in growth momentum.
He described developments in the industrial sector as particularly worrying. Industry growth, he said, plummeted from 11.4 per cent in Q3 2024 to just 0.8 per cent in Q3 2025 — a 10.6 percentage point decline, representing a 90 per cent drop in growth momentum.
Manufacturing growth, he added, also fell from 7.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent within the same period, while oil and gas contracted to 0.2 per cent.
“The real sectors are weakening. Investment and productivity are low. That is why this plane is not flying,” he concluded.