The time for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to extend a hand of cooperation to stakeholders across the spectrum to “rescue” the economy from further decline is now, the Minority in Parliament has stated.
In the view of the caucus, Ghana has the requisite personnel to turn the economic situation around if the government opened up for alternative views.
Their call comes on the heels of a World Bank report which pegged Ghana’s Debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 104.6 per cent, further impairing the economy.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Minority said if the government had listened to the opposition parliamentary wing when it was cautioned against the excessive borrowing the regime engaged in.
“If they had listened to the Minority from 2017, certainly, we wouldn’t have been where we are today. Today, Ghana has become a laughing stock in the world.
“This mismanagement and incompetence is legendary and must be stopped and I think that the president must call on all of us to come onboard as citizens of this country to secure our future.
“We have the people who can do it. There are excellent people in academia and in civil society and in the other political parties.
“There is the need for us to come together to rescue our country because it is very clear that this government cannot steer us out of this economic meltdown,” Dr CassielAtoBaahForson, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance said.
The caucus, Dr Forson, MP for Ejumako/Enyan/Essiam said was vindicated by its long held view that government is guilty of subterfuge in relation to Ghana’s debt.
The Minority in the past has maintained that the US$2 billion sinohydro deal was a loan contrary to government’s position that it was a barter trade between the Chinese company for them to extract bauxite worth the amount.
This position which the government denied, Dr Forson said has come to light.
“They have hidden ESLA, they have hidden Sinohydro, they have hidden Daakye, and in fact, they have added debt through Road Fund and they are all public debt.
“Since 2017, we have been raising this concern that [the sinohydro and other loans calculated below the line] are public debts but this government thought they are wiser than all of us. Today, their master, the IMF, is in town.”
All the above debts, Dr Forson said, have eventually been added to the public debt which has pushed the country’s debt to over 100 per cent of GDP.
“Over the years, they have been deceiving stakeholders, you and I, creating the impression that our debt is sustainable. Today it is obvious that due to this government’s reckless management of the economy and the way they have piled the fiscals in an unsustainable manner, our debt is 104 per cent of our GDP,” Dr Forson said.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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