The former President of Ghana, John Mahama has welcomed the decision of President Akufo-Addo to engage the International Monetary Fund with the view to enter into a programme with the Fund.
He however gave a two strong factors that can contribute to the success of engaging the IMF – thus sacking the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and changing his Vice President, Dr. Bawumia as Head of the Economic Management Team.
According to the former President, the Finance Minister has lost credibility and cannot be trusted by stakeholders and replacing the Vice President too will help Akufo-Addo to reconstitute a more competent team.
“We must draw useful lessons from this episode and avoid cheap politicking with the economy; that can only yield the disastrous outcomes that have brought us here.” – Mahama said
If Ghanaians can recall, the NPP whiles in opposition heavily criticised the then John Mahama led NDC government for an IMF bailout in 2015. They also held a Kenkey Party at the Ministry of Finance to celebrate Ghana’s exit from the programme in 2019 after they extended it.
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I welcome President Akufo-Addo’s decision to formally engage the IMF with the view to entering into a programme under the Fund.
Though belated, it should mark an important step towards addressing the dire economic situation, which has left Ghanaians wallowing under intense suffering and hardships.
Beyond the announcement of engagement with the IMF, a comprehensive home-grown programme should be fashioned out and presented to the Fund for support. It is imperative that a team of skilled and competent negotiators is put together to obtain the best set of measures with the Fund.
The Finance Minister who has supervised the disastrous collapse of the economy cannot and should not be part of the team of negotiators. He has lost credibility and the trust and confidence of stakeholders in our economy.
President Akufo-Addo must take a bold decision to replace his finance minister immediately with a more assured and competent person who is willing and able to work tirelessly to turn our almost hopeless situation around.
In addition, given his obvious failures, the Vice President must be relieved of his responsibility as Chair of the Economic Management Team to enable the President to reconstitute the team.
We must draw useful lessons from this episode and avoid cheap politicking with the economy; that can only yield the disastrous outcomes that have brought us here.