Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, a former minister of trade and industry, has disclosed that he and a small group of state officials supported the government’s plan to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout in 2021 even though Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was unhappy with the decision.

On Tuesday, September 26, a day after leaving the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kyerematen revealed this in an interview with Accra-based UTV.

He questioned the confidence of Ofori-Atta in defending the decision, saying, “Did you hear from the Finance Minister, having the confidence to defend it?” This contrasts with comments made by Kyerematen in July when he was campaigning to be the NPP’s flagbearer in the Greater Accra Region, stating that if Ghanaians had listened to him, the country wouldn’t have gone to the IMF.

In his latest interview, Kyerematen also pleaded with followers of other political parties to support him in the 2024 presidential elections while still remaining loyal to the members of parliament of their party.

As Ofori-Atta’s abilities as Finance Minister are questioned, this development is certain to cause some uneasiness inside the New Patriotic Party.
It is still unclear how the party hierarchy will handle this challenging circumstance over the next few days.