Nana Blasts Mahama Over IMF

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Created on Saturday, 09 August 2014 00:00

Nana Blasts Mahama Over IMF

08 August 2014

TWO-TIME Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has clearly stated that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has failed Ghanaians and must be shown the exit in the December 2016 polls.

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President Mahama led a high-powered government delegation, including Finance Minister, Seth Terpker, to Washington DC to negotiate a financial bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to salvage the mangled Ghanaian economy.

This was after several denials by government and its agents that it was going for a bailout from the Bretton Woods Institution, as predicted by former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and two-time running mate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

But for Akufo-Addo, “Turning to the International Monetary Fund, eight years after Ghana, under President Kufuor, had weaned itself off dependence on the IMF, is a clear admission of spectacular failure on the part of the John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress government.”

He continued, “If as a country, we have no choice but to fall on the IMF for a bailout, then we must have a good deal,” he noted in statement.

Currently, all internal rating agencies have downgraded Ghana’s prospects, given government’s unbridled use of public funds, resulting in huge budget deficits and overwhelmingly huge public debt.

Nana Akufo-Addo, who is seeking reelection as NPP flagbearer said, “It is the people of Ghana who are paying for President Mahama’s mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy and the extensive corruption associated with his government.”

This, he said, was because “the hardships and austerity measures that will emerge from the programme will be borne by Ghanaians.”

“At the moment,” he observed, “Businesses are collapsing and the private sector is suffering” and that a booming private sector would mean a booming economy which will, in its wake, create opportunities and employment for many in this country.

He therefore suggested that measures that are going to be put in place must be made to “protect and create jobs, because we need to tackle the widespread unemployment affecting primarily the youth, that is bedeviling this nation.”

Aside that, he said they must also be geared towards reducing the high cost of living that is affecting everybody and the cost of doing business.

In the medium to long term, the former NPP flagbearer stressed the need for Ghana’s main objective to be chanelled towards the structural transformation of the economy, for which reason he suggested.

“This IMF bailout should point in that direction, i.e. the modernization of agriculture and the industrialisation of the country.”

He urged, “Ghanaians have to measure whatever package or agreement is reached with the IMF by these four criteria. Then we will know whether we have got a good deal or not.”

BY Charles Takyi-Boadu

Source: Daily Guide