Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not giving Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia some slack over the current economic challenges.
Mr. Gyamfi says he can’t fathom why the head of government’s Economic Management Team, who was hailed by New Patriotic Party members as an “economic messiah”, has remained silent amid soaring fuel prices, the free fall of the cedi and general hardship in Ghana.
The NDC stalwart took to Twitter to call out the Vice President.
“A gallon of diesel is selling at GHS72 while the dollar is selling at GHS12.5. The cost of living keeps soaring but the braggadocios talkative and chairman of the EMT @MBawumia (Dr. Bawumia), who was once projected as the answer to all our economic woes, has gone AWOL.”
“Will things ever get better?” Sammy Gyamfi asked.
The Ghanaian economy is in dire straits.
Currently, the dollar is trading at a little over GH¢12 to $1 with no end to the free fall of the Ghanaian currency in sight.
With regard to fuel prices, petrol is selling at GH¢13.10 per litre, while diesel is being sold at over GH¢15 per litre at some pumps.
Watchers of the space are predicting that fuel could be sold at GH¢18 per litre by December if government does not intervene.
The inflation rate has also gone up significantly in the last nine months and hit 37.2% in September 2022, the highest in the last 21 years.
Several efforts by the government to salvage the ailing economy have yielded no positive results.
This has compelled the Government of Ghana to seek economic support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).