The Minority caucus in Parliament has asked President Akufo-Addo and his government to take full responsibility for the economic mess they caused despite consistent warnings from the Minority.
According to the Minority, the current state of the economy which has led to a forced programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could have been avoided should the government have paid heed to wise counseling by the Minority.
In their view, Ghana has reached the pointing of engaging the IMF as a result of the incompetence of the Vice President as the Head of the Economic Management Team in particular and the failure of the Government led by President Akufo Addo in general, which has led to the IMF bailout to fix the country’s economic challenges and difficulties.
“President Nana Addo Dankwa and Dr. Mahamud Bawumia should take full responsibility for incompetently managing the economy to suffocating debt levels which have necessitated the retreat for us to request an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for the restructuring of our debts.
“They should also take full responsibility for their reckless and irresponsible borrowing and the unjustified profligate expenditure which has led us to the journey of retreat,” the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrissu, said in an address with the Press in Parliament on Wednesday, July 6, 2022.
Though some officials in President Akuffo Addo’s Government including the Finance Minister are on record for demonizing IMF programs in the past, Government authorities made an official announcement on July 1, 2022, to the effect that it has opted for an IMF program. Based on this request, an IMF staff team has already been dispatched to the country to kick-start discussions on a possible program to support Ghana’s homegrown economic policies.
Taking his turn to address the press after the Minority Leader, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson, warned Ghanaians to expect a very tough program from the fund and therefore called on the Government to come clean by informing the people about the reality of the issues on the ground.
The Ranking of Finance Committee, Dr. Cassel Ato Forson said, “The people of Ghana should expect a very strong IMF program. Unfortunately, the Government is not articulating that fact. They are trying to hide from what is happening by trying to blame the Ukraine- Russia war. I do not accept it and we cannot accept that as the reason why Ghana is in this mess.
“We are in this mess because it is Government’s deliberate policy. The Government has messed us up big time and should take full responsibility for it. This is true, self-inflicted and the people that took us to this mess must immediately take responsibility,” he observed.
Source: expressnewsghana.com
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