A leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akomea has debunked claims that mismanagement of the economy by the President Akufo-Addo-led administration led Ghana to secure a $$ billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to him, the economy was doing extremely well until some exogenous factors such as; the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war brought the buoyant economy down on its feet.
Making his submission on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Friday morning, Mr. Akomea suggested that, unlike the past government which had gone to the IMF for sheer mismanagement of the economy, the governing administration had to do so based on circumstances beyond their control.
“In this particular case, there’s also been an external factor that nobody can deny it. There’s been Covid-19, and there’s been the Russian-Ukraine war. It is not just Ghana, all over the world. So, the IMF quoting vulnerability, pre-existing vulnerability, they also said the external factor,” he told Dr. Randy Abbey on Friday, May 19, 2023.
The STC boss also indicated that at the height of the turbulence, resorting to the IMF was a last resort as it attempted utilizing homegrown solutions like the introduction of the E-levy but unfortunately, it was not successful.
“The IMF is not the first resort, that we were going to try our own homegrown solution and you know that the homegrown solution, the E-levy. At the time that the Finance Minister was talking about what was going to prevent us from going to the IMF was the e-levy. Unfortunately, the E-levy didn’t work as planned,” Nana Akomea argued.
He noted that such mitigation intervention by the current government was not deployed by the past government which siphoned the economy to where it is.
But the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a co-panelist refuted Mr. Akomea’s claim sharply.
Mr. Ablakwa noted that the blame game by the government must seize, emphasizing that having received taxes from the Ghanaian people beholds on the government to be accountable to the people and ensure that the colossal mess is cleared for them to be relieved.
By: Leonora Enyonam Annoh | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
