LawyerEdudzi Tamakloe, a private legal practitioner has restated that theNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration has severally battered the Ghanaian economy.
In an interview with Okay FM, he asserted that the current economic difficulties could have been avoided if the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had heeded earlier recommendations from economic experts to seek an IMF bailout a year earlier. He added that the NPP’s arrogant nature and lack of willingness to listen to suggestions is the cause of the untold hardship the average Ghanaian is faced with.
According to him, the Dr Mahamudu Bawumia-led Economic Management Team has damaged the local economy and is making reckless decisions that is causing the country more harm, citing the inclusion of pensioners and individual bondholders in its voluntary Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
He slammed Bawumia of having no shame and planning to run for president despite his incompetence and the untold hardship he has caused Ghanaians.
“Do you know that, if we’d entered into the IMF programme a year earlier, this crisis could have been avoided? but the time that we were advising them to go to the IMF, they were saying all sorts of things.
“…do you know what saddens me the most in all this mess, our brothers in the NPP are still talking about breaking the ‘8’, Bawumia that is the chair of the Economic Mismanagement Team that has brought us into this mess, is able to stand in front of Ghanaians and has no shame in proclaiming that he wants to become the president of the country.
“Excuse me to say, even if you drink ‘akpeteshie’ (locally brewed alcohol) will you say this? You have destroyed the country to this level and you have the courage to tell the country that you want to become a president.
“…you see the time that the NPP was saying that, Nana, we know you from the olden days. We should have asked the NPP people, what about him that they know for ages. We couldn’t ask them. And now see where we are. It has become a problem for us. We will need 20 years to redeem the credibility of the NPP due to Akufo-Addo, Bawumia economic mess,” he said.
He added that the NPP government will go down in history as the worst administration to ever lead Ghana.
The government is seeking a programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with the view to salvage the economy which suffered a torrid 2022 characterized by a depreciating currency, galloping inflation and a general increase in the cost of living.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is optimistic that Ghana will conclude talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a possible financial bailout programme.
According to President Akufo-Addo, though the government’s debt exchange programme was fraught with several challenges after its announcement, it has largely been accepted by the citizenry.
He made this known when the German Federal Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, paid him a visit at the Jubilee House.
“We have already taken one important step forward in concluding a staff-level agreement with the IMF. One of the steps was the domestic debt exchange programme which encountered a lot of difficulties, but it has now been virtually concluded…We are now looking towards going the full hog and concluding the agreement. We’re hoping that will be done by the middle of March,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He also called on Germany to encourage China, an ad hoc member of the Paris Club to support Ghana’s debt restructuring efforts.
