The Finance Minister, has told those clamouring for his head, especially the Members of Parliaments (MPs) on both sides of the House that he is the right person to redeem the country’s sinking economy and take it back to its rightful position.
From his utterances, it is obvious Ken Ofori-Atta, has the assurance that he won’t be fired by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is said to have demanded that he is given time to conclude negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also present the 2023 Budget Statement to Parliament before a decision is made on his stay at Finance Ministry.
With the entire New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs on the majority caucus in Parliament chasing him out office, as well as the 137 MPs opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) submitting a motion to censure him in the coming days, Mr Ofori-Atta, who has been in charge of the Finance Ministry since 2017, was expected to sound worried, but rather he maintains that he remains the right person to redeem the country’s sinking economy.
Speaking at a meeting with the Association of Ghana Industries, Mr Ofori-Atta, said calls for his resignation or dismissal are ill-informed.
“Let me assure you that you have a Finance Minister who has gone through all the pains and the aches, and nobody can really say we don’t understand what we are doing. The question is what resources do we have and how are we going to deploy them in the nation that we have and how do we stand firm in very difficult circumstances but being very confident?
“Let me assure you all that your best bet is still Ghana; we can do it, and we should do it,” Ofori-Atta said.
“Even though the issue started with a group of 80-plus, the caucus meeting aligned with the decision of that group.”
“So it is no longer the cause of the 80-plus group. It is the agenda for the entire caucus,” he revealed.
Ghana, has been seriously hit hard and is currently struggling to stabilize the economy as prices of goods and services keep going up daily, which has led to calls for the finance minister to resign.
Indeed, a demonstration was held last Saturday by a cross section of Ghanaians who demanded the resignation of the President, Nana Akufo-Addo
The majority caucus recently relaxed its demand for Mr Ofori-Atta’s exit from government after meeting President Akufo-Addo, who pleaded with them to allow his cousin to conclude ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concerning a $3-billion extended credit facility programme and also present the 2023 budget.
He said: “Just to assure you that you have a finance minister who has gone through all the pains and aches and nobody can, really, come and say, ‘we don’t understand what we’re doing’”.
“The question is: ‘What resources do we have and how are we going to deploy them in the nation that we have?’” he asked his audience.
“And how do you stand firm in very difficult circumstances but being very confident that the nation is purposed for greatness and you’re blessed to have the opportunity to lead where we are going”, he added.
“And, let me assure you all that your best bet is still Ghana. We can do it. We should do it”.
A few days ago, President Akufo-Addo, said ongoing talks with the IMF are “going well” with a deal targeted at the end of 2022.
“We are determined to secure these arrangements quickly to bring back confidence and relief to Ghanaians”, he said in a national address on Sunday, October 30, 2022, adding: “We are working towards reaching a deal with the IMF by the end of the year”.
“This will give further credence to the measures the government is taking to stabilise and grow the economy, as well as shore up our currency”, the president noted.
This comes as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, Dr Isaac Adongo, has said that that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) is having difficulty providing all the foreign exchange needs of importers at the October 2022 forex auction.
According to him, the importers needed more than $104 million to be able to import goods into the country, but the BoG, could only provide $25 million.
In a statement, the MP, said that the country has to now rely on the black market (Abochi), which the government has barred from operating.
He added that because ‘Abochi’ are now in hiding, they are now going to sell the dollar at far higher exchange rates.
“BoG Notice number: NO.BG/FMD/2022/86, dated, 18th day of October 2022, the market required a whopping amount of $104,750,000 for their imports. Unfortunately, BoG could only provide $25m at the auction.
“There is a shortfall of nearly $80m. It is therefore obvious that Abochi, the strategic partner, will have to step in to provide the bulk of the dollars ($80m) to make the system work.
“Yet Dr Bawumia, has set the security to chase his partner into hiding. Guess what, Abochi, the strategic partner is smart. He is adding ‘hiding fees’ and ‘running away from security cost’ to the existing rate,” parts of the statement read.
Read his full statement below:
BoG AUCTION BLUES
BoG Notice number: NO.BG/FMD/2022/86, dated, 18th day of October 2022, the market
required a whopping amount of $104,750,000 for their imports.
Unfortunately, BoG could only provide $25m at the auction.
There is a shortfall of nearly $80m.
It is therefore obvious that Abochi, the strategic partner, will have to step in to provide the bulk of the dollars $80m to make the system work.
Yet Dr Bawumia has set the security to chase this his partner into hiding.
Guess what, Abochi, the strategic partner is smart. He is adding ‘hiding fees’ and ‘running away from security cost’ to the existing rate.
This is how Dr Bawumia is fixing the exchange rate for you.
You create a Strategic Partner and turn round to chase him into hiding.
You’ll pay for it.
Commonsense is hardly ever common.
Dr Bawumia, if you want to eliminate Abochi, please keep providing the entire amount required by the market each time.
