Claim: The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) claims Ghana’s agricultural sector grew by 0.7% in 2022.
Verdict: False. The 0.7% figure quoted was the projected growth rate for 2022, as stated in the 2023 budget. However, the actual growth rate, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for 2022 was 4.2%
Full Text
Former President John Mahama, on May 15, 2023, delivered his Post Election Acceptance Speech at the University of Development Studies at Tamale in the Northern Region. The speech comes after he was elected as the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He won with a whopping 98.9% votes at the party’s presidential primaries held on May 13, 2023.
During his speech, Mr Mahama charged his party delegates to help win the 2024 elections. In his speech, he also made some claims concerning the economy. He claimed that the agricultural sector will grow by 0.7% in 2022.
He said, “Unfortunately, as inflation rises, unemployment has not improved but worsened. The growth rate of the agriculture sector, 2.7% in 2016, despite all the slogans, was a paltry 0.7% in 2022.”
The full text of his speech has also been published by myjoyonline.com. The address was shown live on major TV stations and the Facebook page of the former president. On the Facebook page of John Mahama, the claim can be found from 1:30:06 – 1:30:23. The address has garnered over 22,000 views and received over 2,000 likes.
Verification
DUBAWA first surfed through data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). The service is the nationally recognised agency mandated to produce official national statistics. We discovered that the agricultural sector growth was 4.2% and not 0.7% in 2022.
| AGRICULTURAL GROWTH (2016-2022) | |
| Year | GSS |
| 2016 | 2.7 |
| 2017 | 6.2% |
| 2018 | 4.9% |
| 2019 | 4.7% |
| 2020 | 7.3% |
| 2021 | 8.5% |
| 2022 | 4.2% |
But where did Mr Mahama get the 0.7% figure from? DUBAWA realised that 0.7% was quoted from the 2023 budget statement and economic policy (page 181). The figure quoted was the projected agricultural growth rate and not the actual growth rate for the year.
Conclusion
The claim by the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, that the agricultural sector grew by 0.7% in 2022 is untrue. The figure quoted was the projected growth rate for 2022.
