The Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association, Sampson Asaki Awingobit, has taken a swipe at the First and Second gentlemen of the country.
Awingobit is unimpressed with the handling of the economy and has asked Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to own up to the ongoing economic challenges the country is facing.
Beyond taking blame and not shifting it on other external factors, he asserts that the President and his vice owe Ghanaians an apology for their handling of the economy.
Whiles government has repeatedly blamed the effects of Coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine war for the economic crunch, Awingobit insists that but for some bad decisions Ghana would not be in the hard place it finds itself.
“Government and its so-called economic management committee have lost touch with the people. They have no knowledge, I do not know where they got their PhDs from.
“This government has failed us woefully, and it is high time the President [Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo] and his vice [Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia] accept and apologise to Ghanaians. They have performed abysmally. They cannot promise us flamboyant things and fail and go on with their lives as though nothing has happened.”
“These are the same people who criticised the former President [John Mahama] throughout his tenure, going about, promising us heaven on earth all to get into power. I want the President of the Republic of Ghana and his vice to apologise to Ghanaians. They have said so much and delivered little,” he said while speaking on the ‘Big Issue’ new analysis programme on Citi TV, August 20.
The government is currently seeking an economic rescue programme with the International Monetary Fund, IMF, following worsening economic indices, among others a total public debt stock of GH¢391.9 billion, as of the end of the first quarter of 2022.
The cedi, according to a Bloomberg report earlier this week, was also the worst-performing African currency and has weakened 22 percent against the dollar this year.
The latest figures released by the Bank of Ghana put Ghana’s total public debt stock, as of June 2022, at USS 54.4 billion or GH¢393.4 billion.
