Tamás Endre Fehér, Hungary’s new ambassador to Ghana, paid former President John Dramani Mahama a courtesy call in his office in Cantonments, Accra, to formally introduce himself and discuss issues of mutual interest to the two countries.
Mr. Mahama welcomed the ambassador, who will begin his tenure in September 2021, and recalled Ghana and Hungary’s long-standing friendship, which dates back to the administration of first President Kwame Nkrumah.
He acknowledged how the relationship between the two countries blossomed under his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Madam Hanna Tetteh, whose mother was Hungarian, culminating in the increase of Hungarian scholarships to Ghana from two to fifty, and then to 100.
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Mr. Mahama gave an overview of the nation’s challenges including the economic malaise due to mismanagement and unbridled borrowing, which have both contributed to extreme hardships on the Ghanaian people.
The challenges confronting the country, as a result of mismanagement, the former President noted, started long before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and the Russian-Ukraine war began.
He said this was in spite of the fact that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administrations resolved a debilitating power crisis, left to the present government economic buffers including the Sinking Fund, Heritage Fund, Stabilisation Fund and a high IMF and World Bank projected growth rate, which the government inherited in 2017 but failed to sustain.
Mr. Mahama also pointed out the complete lack of political will in fighting corruption involving government’s own appointees and the forced resignation of the Auditor General, which he says is “because the government does not want accountability”.
Ambassador Tamás Fehér thanked the former President for the reception and expressed his happiness that Hungarian experts have contributed in various ways to Ghana’s development.
He paid tribute to the efforts of former Foreign Minister Hanna Tetteh in helping to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
He also expressed confidence that the friendship between the two countries will grow even further, promising that the scholarships would be increased.
