John Mahama
Former President John Dramani Mahama appears unrepentant for his berating of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Managing Director, calling on Kristalina Georgieva to ground her comments on Ghana’s economy on facts.
According to him, there are facts about Ghana’s economy that cannot be ignored by the IMF; lest the Bretton Woods institution will make wrong diagnosis and prescribe inappropriate remedies for the country.
Kristalina’s Comments
The IMF boss is facing the fury of the 2020 presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) after she suggested that the current economic challenges of Ghana were due to “exogenous shocks” of COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“First the pandemic, then Russia’s war in Ukraine, and that we need to realise is not because of bad policies in the country, but because of these combination of shocks, and, therefore, we have to support Ghana,” she stated on the sidelines of the Fund’s engagements with the Ghanaian delegation.
More Flaks
But former President Mahama seems dissatisfied with her comments, asserting, “While the norm in international diplomacy of being guarded in what one says is appreciated, comments by high ranking officials must be grounded on facts that take into consideration local realities and opinions.”
He posted on his Facebook wall yesterday, “The incontrovertible fact is that Ghana is in a mess due to the bad policies of this government, which have contributed massively to the dire state of affairs.”
He said “international diplomats must consider these facts and not just ignore them; lest they make wrong diagnosis and prescribe inappropriate remedies.”
Mr. Mahama noted that the consequences of “the government’s ill-advised policies such as the botched, insensitive and dubious cost in closing down locally owned banks, unbridled levels of corruption and lack of accountability including the mismanagement of COVID-19 funds, unconventional borrowing practices riddled with opaqueness and conflicts of interest, resulting in an unsustainable debt envelope, costly, experimental and untested programmes, etc., cannot be ignored in understanding the current dire state of the Ghanaian economy.”
“Therefore, the rhetoric that emanates from international diplomats must reflect local realities. The Ghanaian economy must be managed first for the Ghanaian who lives and experiences it daily, not just for an international audience,” Mr. Mahama argued.
He, however, stated that it was a relief to “hear Madam Kristina Georgieva reaffirm the commitment of the IMF to support the people of Ghana in these perilous times.”
“Ghanaians are undeserving of the uncertainty and hardship resulting from the ineptness of the Nana Akufo-Addo administration that has contributed massively to this mess,” he pinned.
By Ernest Kofi Adu