The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, can’t let go off his bible-quoting cousin, Ken Ofori-Atta, despite his failures as a Finance Minister, as he has put him in charge, to commence talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.
This, follows severe challenges with Ghana’s economy, with difficulties in finding money to pay salaries of public sector workers.
This was announced in a statement issued by the Information Ministry today, Friday, July 1, 2022., strangely without the name of the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who is the Chairman of Government’s economic management team, made to lead the impending talk with the IMF.
Insiders, have said that the Vice-President, has not been active in the management of the economy for some time now. It is a “one man show” by Ken Ofori-Atta who President Akufo-Addo only listens to.
Dr. Bawumia, The Herald learnt, has not been in favour of many of the decisions such as the E-levy, Agyapa Royalties deal and expenditures like the National Cathedral project.
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The Veep, has publicly avoided speaking about these, because of his objections to many decisions by the Finance Minister.
In the case of E-Levy, Dr Bawumia had told Kwame Sefa Kayi on Peace FM in 2020 days before Ken Ofori-Atta floated the idea to reject it saying “My view is that we should not tax mobile money because a lot of the people who are using mobile money transactions are very poor people. For example, someone just sends GH¢5 on mobile money, and why would you want to tax that?”
It is not clear, the last time the Government’s Economic Management Team, which also has Prof Gyan Baffour, Dr Akoto Osei, Dr Afriyie Acquah, Alan Kyrematen, Boakye Adjarko, Ken Ofori-Atta, Yaw Osafo Marfo, held a meeting to decide on anything with respect to the economy.
The statement had said that “the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorized Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to commence formal engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inviting the Fund to support an economic program put together by the Government of Ghana.”
“This follows a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund,” the statement noted.
The IMF, has since confirmed its engagement with the Ghanaian government.
It said “We can confirm that the authorities have been in touch to request Fund’s support to #Ghana’s own economic program. The #IMF stands ready to assist #Ghana to restore macroeconomics stability; safeguard debt sustainability; promote inclusive and sustainable growth; and face the impact of the war in #Ukraine and the lingering pandemic.
“We are looking forward to meeting with the authorities in the coming weeks to start the initial discussions. #IMFAfrica.
The statement added that the government has already decided to engage the IMF for support after a cabinet meeting held on June 30, 2022.
“The engagement with the IMF will seek to provide a 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 added.
This development comes days after another cousin of the President, Gabby Otchere-Darko, said he was not against the government seeking economic support from the IMF, adding any move or plan by the government to go to the IMF for a programme would be a matter of principle.
“Am I against an IMF programme in principle? No. I am not for an IMF programme that throws peanuts at us but imposes conditions that will end up hurting the poor, jobs and businesses more.
“Covid-19 and War in Ukraine are not of Africa’s doing, but more to our doom. A programme that pretends it is all our doing is doomed to fail,” he tweeted on Monday, June 27.
Prior to Gabby Otchere-Darko’s tweet, Deputy Finance John Kumah had hinted that the government may consider going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a programme if the current home-grown programme fails to bring the needed economic stability and restore investor confidence.
He indicated that an IMF programme will be pursued if needed.
For weeks, the government has been criticised for failing to take the bold step of subscribing to a Fund programme to address the imbalances within the economy.
But defending their stance, Mr. Kumah said all options are on the table.
“If it [bringing the economy back to life] becomes impossible, then it is the only alternative to salvage our economy. But where we are now, we think we are in the position to salvage the economy or to try the homegrown policy we are adopting.”
“If our programmes fail us and we are not able to get the confidence and the results in the fiscal space discipline, which we have to impose on ourselves, then we don’t have a choice”, the Deputy Finance Minister stressed while interacting with George Wiafe on PM Express on JoyNews.
On his part, former President John Mahama has called on the government to urgently seek support from the IMF.
Speaking at the launch of the Think Progress Ghana think tank on Thursday, the former President urged the government to seek support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enhance the country’s economic fortunes.
“Due to the nature and depth of our economic problems, this government virtually has no other sustainable option.
“That is one of the things this government lacks. They don’t have fiscal discipline and that is why they are even afraid to go into an IMF programme,” the former President remarked.
