Government to announce measures to address economic challenges
Ablakwa calls for Finance Minister's head over economic woes
Opposition Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called for the sacking of Ken Ofori-Atta for what he describes as his disastrous management of Ghana's economy.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo convened a cabinet retreat over the weekend to find solutions to Ghana's current economic challenges in the face of rising fuel prices and rapid depreciation of the cedi against the dollar.
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a statement, assured that the government would, in the coming days, outline measures to address the current challenges.
But speaking on Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was pessimistic about the prospects of the cabinet retreat yielding a positive outcome.
According to him, the very people responsible for the current economic challenges are the same people making up the cabinet.
He thus urged the president to issue a marching order to the finance minister, saying, "I am clear in my mind that nothing new, nothing transformational will come out of this cabinet retreat made up of the same people. The only solution- and I agree with IMANI- I agree with Professor Gyampo, I agree with the many Ghanaians who are saying that it is time for some people to go home. Beginning from the finance minister, he has been a disaster."
Mr Ablakwa also called for the head of Vice President Dr. Bawumia, who is the head of the Economic Management Team, stating that "In many other jurisdictions, the vice president will be the first to resign."
He noted that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, widely touted as an economic wizard, has now transformed into an Information Communication Technology expert and has limited himself to that area alone, leaving the economy to ruins.
"Having failed and having now transmogrified into an ICT expert. I've never seen such transmogrification in my life. We will be celebrating Easter soon; even Christ's ascension to heaven was not this spectacular," he stated.
To Mr. Ablakwa, the current economic conditions only bring memories of events in Greece which led to an uprising.
"See the symptoms; it's the same. Governments were underreporting; they were not being truthful. So you will hear the World Bank Country Director in the case of Ghana exposing government. IMF was even forced to expose [the] government on the 2020 Budget Deficit. Government was earlier claiming that it was 11.6%; the IMF had to say, 'hey, stop the lies, it's 16%.'
"Same thing was happening in Greece; underreporting, it came to a head. It's just a matter of time. The level of agitation, it's just a matter of time people will take to the streets. Because everything is going up except wages and salaries," Mr Ablakwa said.
