A former Senior Governance Adviser at the United Nations, Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah, is urging President Akufo-Addo to make changes to his Economic Management Team (EMT).
Speaking to Francis Abban on Morning Starr Wednesday, Mr. Agyeman-Duah stated that the prevailing economic situation means President the needs to take some steps in bringing the economy back on track.
“There should be a change in the economic management team. What will reverse the problem will be the other tangible things that Ghanaians will see.
“At times, in government, shuffles are very important to bring in fresh blood. If you stay in a job for over 5-years and there are no results, you have to re-think. If I was president, many of them would have been sacked long ago,” he stated.
The Minority in Parliament has the President to immediately dissolve his Economic Management Team over the wobbling cedi.
According to the Minority, the rising prices of fuel in the country is as a result of the depreciation of the local currency rather than rising prices of crude on the international market.
Addressing the media, Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, John Jinapor, asked the government to use the windfall from oil export to cushion Ghanaian consumers.
“This government has been a monumental failure. We call on President Akufo-Addo to dissolve the Economic Management Team because they have not lived up to expectation,” Mr. Jinapor told the media on Friday.
He further explained “This morning the exchange rate – the dollar to cedi is trading at 8.5 Ghana cedi. The Ghanaian cedi today is the worst in terms of performance with other major currencies. The price of diesel at the pump is over 40 cedis per gallon. That is the true state of the Ghanaian economy today. Workers, Teachers, drivers, MPs, and market women are really suffering.”
However, Government Spokesperson on Governance, Palgrave Boakye Danquah, has rubbished the Minority’s call for President Akufo-Addo to dissolve his Economic Management Team (EMT).
Speaking to Lily Mohammed on Starr Today, Mr. Danquah pointed out that it is good to have the Minority to express their views on national matters but the NPP is doing better with Ghana’s economy even with the global crisis fronting them.
“Beyond the politicking, the government has taken stringent measures to ensure that we address the issues. When the Minority says that Vice President should handover the Economic Management Team, when we compare what the NDC did by taking Ghana to the IMF, they didn’t dissolve the EMT led by Paa Kwasi Amissah Arthur.
“The NDC must know that without global crisis they even struggled to manage the economy. But, we, us a government with the pandemic and European war are managing this economy extremely better,” Mr. Boakye Danquah disclosed.