Akufo-Addo’s 2016 tweet on cedi depreciation comes back to haunt him

While in opposition, one of the strong points of campaign for then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was the exchange rate of the cedi against the dollar.

Currently in government, the cedi under President Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo is trading at about 7.38, a situation that has elicited several concerns.

As of May 2016, the cedi was trading at around 4.72 for a dollar. But that notwithstanding, President Akufo-Addo who was then an opposition leader labelled the performance of the cedi against the dollar as a leadership problem.

“The current depreciation of the Ghana Cedis against the US Dollar is because of BAD leadership. We should not be where we are today to buy a dollar for 3.72. Vote for Change,” Nana Addo tweeted in 2016.

His tweet seems to have come back to haunt him and his government as several social media users have been making reference to the post by the then opposition leader.

However, responding to one of such sentiments, Majority Chief Whip and NPP Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, tweeted that the current situation is not one that is lost on the government.

“It is certainly not lost on us, we shall overcome regardless of the global challenges,” the New Patriotic Party MP wrote in a tweet.

The constant increase in fuel prices experienced over a period, coupled with the free fall of the cedi against the dollar among other factors have led to concerns of a collapsing economy.

However, the government and its elements have cited current global economic conditions to defend their management of the Ghanaian economy in the face of the concerns.

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