Peter Boamah Otokunor, an aspiring General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, NDC, has described the New Patriotic Party government as a crime scene.
The basis for his claim being the mishandling of the economy and incidents of rot and corruption whiles some members of the government continue to profiteer from the country’s rising debt.
In an interview with Oyerepa TV with host, Kwesi Parker Wilson, in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, last week, Otokunor said: “This government is a crime scene, the entire government is a crime scene. Crime scene is a place where a criminal act has or is taking place.
“The other day, Martin Kpebu claimed the president is the head of a crime syndicate (despite his apology), I am here to emphasize that fact. This government is a crime syndicate with the president as leader, he is a mafia lord.”
In seeking to substantiate his accusation, he cited Ghana’s increasing debt stock and the supposed role of the Finance Minister in the situation.
“I cannot fathom what makes a government that claims to love the nation and people, yet the Finance Minister leads a borrowing spree, to the tune of 400 billion, almost about 88% of GDP. And in all of this, a company he founded are transaction advisors to the borrowing and are earning huge sums of money,” he stressed.
According to him, there was the need for the people of Ghana to hand the reins of power to the NDC after the 2024 elections.
Galloping inflation and a depreciating currency are two major issues that underlines current economic downturn. The Ghana cedi recently maintained its spot as the worst performing currency in Africa, according to a Bloomberg report.
The portal said the cedi recorded a -28.82 percent depreciation to the dollar as of August 20, 2022, to sell at over GH¢10 to a dollar.
This means the currency could be heading for a record-worst performance in the last 25 years. The low performance of the cedi has however driven inflation to a record of 31.7 percent in July.
The role of Databank – a company founded by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta – in Ghana’s borrowing on the international capital markets, have become topical in recent times.
Data bank and other financial managers are accused by the NDC of engaging in opaque processes for the election of bond avdvisors.
In his defense, the Ministry of Finance has issued a statement that Ofori-Atta since 2014 holds no direct interest in the board or day-to-day management of the company.
SARA
Peter Boamah Otokunor