The Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South has stated that contrary to government propagandists, the Minority is very concerned about the state of the economy and the hardship it is inflicting on the ordinary Ghanaian.
According to him, the mounting prices of food and fuel affect every Ghanaian regardless of whether they belong to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“The price of kenkey is high and you and I eat kenkey; the price of bread and everything else has shot up. NPP do not eat different bread or kenkey from the NDC or any other political party.”
Addressing the government’s decision to finally seek support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following a telephone call that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made to the IMF Chief, Hon. George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan said it is painful to have to tell the government ‘I told you so.’
Ghana, he said, is in such distress simply because the Akufo-Addo-led NPP administration did not listen to advice.
According to him, the Minority warned the government the path it chose to follow was wrong and that the strategies it was pursuing will not work.
He said, “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.
The government, he said, wasted time hoping and praying the situation will get better by itself and now that things have gotten out of hand, they have run to the IMF and warned Ghana will pay the price.
Mr. Ricketts-Hagan insists the Finance Minister must explain to Parliament the decision to go to IMF in view of the fact this was not part of the funding mix that the government says it was going to use to finance the deficit.
He said, “Even with COVID and now the Ukraine war, which was not there when 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 come and explain.”