Ken Ofori Atta’s position as Ghana’s Finance Minister continues to be a source of worry for many. In fact, many have propositioned the government to fire the Minister because of extreme incompetence or at the very least, prevent him from being part of the team that will engage with the team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
One of such people who holds the above views is the Member of Parliament for Navrongo in the Upper East Region, Sampson Chiragiaa Tangombu.
He said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper Show today, Monday, July 4, 2022.
“They should make sure that the Finance Minister is not part of the team. He needs to resign or they need to sack him now and bring in a proper person who can engage with the IMF properly.”
Mr. Tangombu continued to say that it would be unfair to compare the situation under the former Finance Minister to the current one under Ken Ofori Atta. It would be recalled that Gabby Itchere-Darko, a leading member of the NPP that Former Finance Minister intimated that once Seth Terkper, former Finance Minister was kept during Ghana’s engagement with the IMF, it would only be fair for the current government to repose the same confidence in the current Minister.
But the lawmaker suggested that Mr. Otchere-Darko’s premise and conclusion on the matter could not be further from the truth stressing that Seth Tepker was not Minister for 6 years.
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“The guy [Ken Ofori Atta] has lost ideas. Why should he be the one to be there for 6 years?”
Amid protests over spiralling prices and the rising cost of living, the government of Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has reneged on its pledge not to borrow from the IMF after hitting the wall with its domestic economic recovery plan.
On 1 July President Akufo-Addo announced that he has instructed Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to open negotiations for a programme.
“The engagements with the IMF will seek to provide a balance of payment 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,” a government statement said.
Until now, the government had ruled out the option of an IMF programme, settling for a homegrown economic recovery plan that included the introduction of a 1.5% tax on electronic financial transactions (E-levy) which sparked widespread protests.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
