The Minority caucus in Parliament has hit back at Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for accusing the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration of leaving behind a derailed International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
In an article, Ofori-Atta said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in 2017 inherited a ‘derailed IMF programme and a highly impaired and ethically strained financial industry from our predecessors’.
His article follows a series of calls by the Minority for the resignation of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for allegedly mismanaging the Central Bank.
Furthermore, the Finance Minister in his article called for support for the construction of a befitting new office for BoG.
Responding to Ofori-Atta, Minority Leader Ato Forson in a statement argued that the Mahama administration left behind a robust economy.
“The Minister of Finance should not say anywhere again that the NDC administration left behind a derailed IMF programme. Clearly, at the time we were leaving office, there was no monetary finance. For the first time in the history of Ghana, the government did not take money from the central bank even though the law allowed the then administration to take 5% of the previous year’s revenue from the central bank.”
“The people of Ghana would recall that because the Mahama administration left behind a robust economy, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government within the first three months of its assumption of office was able to borrow US$2.25 billion from Franklin Templeton”.
Ato Forson emphasised that the NDC government performed incredibly well compared to what Ghanaians are now witnessing under the Akufo-Addo government.
“We did better than they are doing and the NDC will always do better when the good people of Ghana give John Mahama and our party the opportunity to govern from January 2025. Finally, the Minority in Parliament wishes to remind Governor Addison and Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta that the day of reckoning is very near and they will be held accountable for their collective mess,” he said.
He added that history will remember Ofori-Atta for taking Ghana to IMF in an ambulance, insisting that the Bog Governor resign.
“History will remember this Minister of Finance and the government’s Economic Mismanagement Team headed by Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia for taking Ghana to the IMF in an ambulance”.
