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Former President John Dramani Mahama has advised Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo against adding Finance Minister to the team of negotiators for IMF bailout.
According to him, Ken Ofori-Atta has lost credibility and trust of stakeholders after he supervised the disastrous collapse of the economy.
He urged the Akufo-Addo to immediately take a bold decision to replace his finance minister.
Ina Facebook post, he said “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,” he posted on July 2, 2022.
John Mahama also welcomed the decision by government to seek IMF bailout as it is an important towards solving the economic crisis.
“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.”
He also called for the removal of Vice President Bawumiaas the head of the Economic Management Team to enable the President to reconstitute the team.
Barely 24 hours after he (Mahama) advised the Akufo-Addo led-administration that the current economic challenges can only be salvaged with help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), government is heading to the IMF.
Speaking at a forum on the Economy in Accra on Thursday, June 30 2022, Mr. Mahama indicated that the IMF and its technocrats will come with solid policies such as fiscal discipline among others to improve the nation’s macro-economic front.
“In the last few days, there has been talk from some regime actors about a potential or impending IMF programme. Due to the nature and depth of our economic problems, this government virtually has no other sustainable option.
“IMF programs come with fiscal consolidation and insistence on fiscal discipline which can lead to some recovery and improvements on the macro-economic front,” the NDC 2020 Presidential Candidate disclosed.
He continued: “This government has however so mismanaged our economy and left it in such a terrible state that fiscal consolidation alone will not do the trick.”
“Any IMF programme should be preceded or done jointly with discussions with our creditors to achieve debt restructuring.”
In less than 24 hours after these statements were made by Mahama, President Akufo-Addo has authorized the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to commence formal engagements with the International Monetary Fund.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Information, on July 1, 2022, the decision is to invite Fund to support an economic programme put together by the government of Ghana.
“The engagement with the IMF will seek to provide balance of payment support as part of a broader effort to quicken Ghana’s build back in the face of challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and, recently, the Russia Ukraine crises,” the statement indicated
