Ghanaians Do Not Eat Slogans. Two Budgets of Broken Promises, and Now a “New Economy”

NPP-USA Press Statement  |  For Immediate Release

November 10, 2026

On Thursday, November 12, 2026, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson will stand in Parliament and present Ghana with a “New Economy.” Before anyone claps, ask the trader at Makola and Kejetia, the trotro driver at Kaneshie, and the graduate still carrying a brown envelope from office to office one question. What happened to the old economy he promised?

This is the Finance Minister’s third budget. The first, in March 2025, carried the theme “Resetting the Economy for the Ghana We Want.” The second, in November 2025, promised “Resetting for Growth, Jobs and Economic Transformation.” The third arrives with a ten-billion-dollar price tag and a brand-new name. The speeches get better every year. The lives of the people made to listen to them do not.

So here are the receipts.

Four promises. Four retreats.

1. The jobs that work three shifts and never show up

The 24-Hour Economy was the crown jewel of the 2024 campaign, built on one job running three shifts for three people. The government put the prize at 1.7 million jobs. Its direct allocation in the 2026 Budget was GH¢110 million, which the Finance Ministry later described as a facilitating amount and not full funding. Spread across 1.7 million promised jobs, that is about GH¢65 a job. Unemployment stood at 13 percent in the third quarter of 2025. When a Secretariat official claimed it had fallen to about 6.4 percent, fact-checkers found no official data to support the figure. In October, the Secretariat’s own head of strategy was reported as saying he could not give a total number of jobs created. A jobs program that cannot count its jobs has answered its own question.

2. The tax that came in through the back door

The NDC campaigned against “nuisance taxes.” At his vetting in January 2025, Dr. Forson told Parliament that revenue could be raised without increasing taxes. Within five months, his government pushed a GH¢1-per-litre fuel levy through Parliament under a certificate of urgency. It is projected to raise about GH¢5.7 billion a year, collected at the pump from drivers, traders and commuters. The government says the proceeds are ring-fenced for energy sector debt. That is an argument for the levy. It is not a defense of the promise. The E-Levy left through the front door. The fuel levy walked in through the back. They scrapped the tax you could see and replaced it with one you pay every time you move.

3. The relief that arrives as a higher bill

Ghanaians were promised relief on the cost of living. According to the NPP Minority in Parliament, electricity tariffs have risen a cumulative 26.82 percent across the quarterly adjustments since April 2025. That is a simple sum, and it already accounts for a 4.81 percent cut in April 2026. A fresh 3.49 percent increase took effect on July 1, 2026, and the Minority notes that it erased the April relief within a single quarter. The promise was made on a campaign platform. The reply comes every month, printed on the bill.

4. The rivers that are still brown

Mr. Mahama rode a wave of public anger over galamsey into office, pledging to repeal L.I. 2462, the instrument that opened forest reserves to mining. It took eleven months, sustained public pressure, and a first attempt merely to amend it before the revocation took effect in December 2025. Almost two years into his term, NPP-USA’s assessment is that galamsey remains severe and highly visible, and that major sources of drinking water remain badly polluted. And when citizens demanded decisive action, the President told Ghanaians in New York on September 25, 2026, that he had “never ever” said he would declare a state of emergency. The rivers are not interested in what was or was not said. They are still brown.

Old parcel, new wrapping

The government’s answer to a long list of unkept promises was not an apology. It was a longer list. That is the method. When you cannot keep 175 promises, make 222.

Now comes the “New Economy.” In 2024, the NDC promised a US$10 billion Big Push. In 2026, it promises another US$10 billion, this time under the New Economy banner. The government treats them as separate programs, and Ghanaians are entitled to ask what became of the first. Even the description of the new one has shifted. It was seven sectors over four years when announced in August, and nine sectors over five years by late October.

A new economy is not born of a new slogan. It is built by a government that does what it says, measures what it does, and owns up when it falls short. On that test, this government fell short in 2025 and again in 2026. Ghanaians are not being offered a new economy. They are being offered the old promises with the dust wiped off.

Three questions before the applause

Before Dr. Forson rises on Thursday, he owes the country three answers.

1. Where is the scorecard? Publish, line by line, what became of the 175 commitments of 2025 and the 222 of 2026.
2. Where are the jobs? Not projections, not signed agreements, not announcements. Names, numbers and pay slips.
3. Where is the US$10 billion coming from? And how will Ghanaians know, in plain figures, whether it has worked?

Until those answers come, “new” is only the latest word in a long list of words.

The delivery on Thursday will be flawless. It always is. But Ghanaians do not eat slogans, and no child’s school fees were ever paid with applause. NPP-USA, with Ghanaians at home and across the diaspora, will not be watching the performance. We will be counting the results.

Issued by the New Patriotic Party USA Branch (NPP-USA)