Former Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, has revealed that he and a few state officials defended the decision by the government to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2021, while Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was nowhere to be found.
Kyerematen made this revelation during an interview on Accra-based UTV on Tuesday, September 26 a day after he broke away from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He questioned the confidence of Ofori-Atta in defending the decision, saying, “Did you hear from the Finance Minister, having the confidence to defend it?” This contrasts with comments made by Kyerematen in July when he was campaigning to be the NPP’s flagbearer in the Greater Accra Region, stating that if Ghanaians had listened to him, the country wouldn’t have gone to the IMF.
In his latest interview, Kyerematen also implored supporters of other political parties to vote for him in the 2024 presidential elections while retaining their allegiance to their party’s Members of Parliament.
This development is sure to create some unease within the New Patriotic Party as Ofori-Atta’s competence as Finance Minister comes under scrutiny.
It remains to be seen how the party hierarchy will manage this delicate situation in the coming days.
By Vincent Kubi