Prince Kofi Amoabeng, the former CEO of the defunct UT Bank, believes that Ghana has failed with her independence after running to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, almost eighteen times to seek a bailout.
According to him, when Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah led the country to gain its independence on March 6, 1957, he had a vision that was envied the world over.
He said, based on his vision for the country, he was able to make some bold pronouncements that Ghana is capable of managing its own affairs but going to IMF for policy credibility is like inviting the colonial master that the country sacked some decades ago.
“We’ve gone to the IMF, 17; some say 18 times and for me, it only tells me one thing [that] we have failed completely with our independence. Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah had a vision, fantastic, envied by the whole world. When we had independence, Ghana was the most promising colony with very educated people by comparison; great resources, infrastructure, name it. And Kwame Nkrumah said we will manage our own affairs.
“When you call IMF, you know what it means; it means you’ve managed and it should come and support you gain credibility outside...So, my issue is the colonisers that we sacked, we’ve gone to them since independence – 17; 18 times – they shouldn’t have gone there. The same thing is any time they come, they come and worsen your situation and improve their situation.,” Prince Kofi Amoabeng said in a TV3 interview.
He continued: “Go back to other IMF programmes; divestiture, cut down on salaries, freeze employment and what do you do? They know that you are going to mismanage the monies. If Ghana has visited IMF for the 18th time, don’t you believe they will come again? The point is that if we had to go to the IMF, and this time that they’ve come, we should sign a contract with them for them to stay because when they go, we will mismanage again and then we will go to them and they will come back.
“And this is not free. They are a bank giving Ghana money. We pay for their travel expenses, hotel expenses and when they come because they know the potential of Ghana in terms of resources and others, IMF will always bail Ghana out. IMF will never say that the situation of Ghana is that bad and therefore they can’t handle it; they will always bail us out.
“Now, what is happening is that as we call them and they come for us to start negotiations, Moodys said these people, their situation is worse; somebody who is trying to negotiation, now you are throwing debt at him…”
Ghana is before the IMF for a US$3 billion facility to help the country navigate through the hostile economic crisis it finds itself in as a result of the adverse effects of the deadly coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
President Akufo-Addo has stated, on occasion, that “we have decided to seek the collaboration of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to repair, in the short run, our public finances, which have taken a severe hit in very recent times as a result, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of creating a Ghana Beyond Aid, that is building a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy.”
PEN/SARA
Prince Kofi Amoabeng