Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South constituency, George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, has stated it is painful to tell the government ‘We told you so’ because that was not what the MInority wanted.
He stressed that the country is where it is today because the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP)administration did not listen to wise counsel.
The Minority in Parliament, he said, had warned the government the path it chose to follow was wrong and that the strategies it was pursuing will not work.
“I don’t know what they were looking at because every economic indicator, every forecasting you look at did not look good and we advised that IMF could be an option under the circumstance.”
“After all, if you claim pandemic and all those things are your woes, then go to IMF and tell them you were doing a fantastic job until COVID-19 came in, so you need an IMF really,” he said.
Speaking in an interview on Friday in Parliament, Hon. Ricketts-Hagan lamented the government wasted time, hoping providence would change the situation they knew was deteriorating. Now that things have gotten out of hand, they have run to the IMF.
Ghana, he said, will have to pay the price.
Government, he said, must now go to Parliament and explain to the people’s representatives the decision to go to IMF in view of the fact this was not part of the funding mix they were going to use to finance the deficit.
He said, “Even with COVID and now the Ukraine war, which was not there the budget was read, so if we are incurring extra expenditure or we need to find some revenue somewhere to pay for some things and the IMF is now the option that was not there as at yesterday, then somebody will have to and explain.”
The NDC, he said, is not priding itself on having been vindicated in all the warnings and wise counsels it offered the government and the Minister of Finance because the opposition wants Ghana to work for all parties.
“The price of kenkey is high and you and I eat kenkey, bread and everything. NPP don’t eat different bread NDC or any other political party.”
“So it is painful to say I told you so,” he stated.
Hon. Rickett-Hagan argued under the current circumstance, Ghana needs somebody who understands and believes in the IMF and its bailout programme to lead the negotiation and stressed such a person is not Ken Ofori-Atta.
Former President John Mahama, he said, is spot on calling for the Finance Minister’s resignation and stressed it is unfortunate he was even given a second term.