Mahama walked to IMF, Akufo-Addo went to IMF in an ambulance – Toobu

The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC’s) Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa West Constituency in the Upper West Region, Peter Lanchene Toobu has reminded Ghanaians to distinguish between former president John Dramani Mahama’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and the current president Akufo-Addo’s-led government’s IMF’s programme.

According to the MP who is also a Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, Mr Mahama went to the IMF walking but President Nana Akufo-Addo went to the IMF being driven in an ambulance.

He said the former president went to the IMF walking with a home-grown policy seeking policy credibility from the IMF, however, President Akufo-Addo and his Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia went to the IMF when the economy was in comatose.

The MP who was a former police officer made this distinction between the NDC’s IMF programme and the NPP’s IMF programme while reacting to the mass action in Sri Lanka over economic mismanagement that has led to the ousting of the president and his family in the cabinet in that country.

Speaking in an interview on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, he said the NDC sought the help of the IMF when the economy was in good shape but the NPP is seeking the IMF’s help when the economy is in ruins.

He stressed that what is happening in Sri Lanka should be a wake-up call for Akufo-Addo's government because it is this same government that promised Ghanaians it will never go to the IMF.

“What we are seeing today is in sharp contrast to what the leadership of the NPP led by the president promised Ghanaians,” he noted.

He said the mass action in Sri Lanka is partly because of the family and friends government which is what is pertaining under the watch of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“In Sri Lanka, the Finance Minister, and Immigration Minister among others in Cabinet are family members of the sitting president,” he noted but was quick to add that even though the ousting of their president is a wake call for the government, the same action cannot happen in the country because of the kind of democracy Ghana practices.