Dr John Kwakye
The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr John Kwakye has indicated that it will be wrong to sack the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta from office.
According to him, removing the Minister will damage Ghana’s image among the international community.
This follows calls by some members of the public especially supporters of the opposition political parties following the announcement on Friday July 1, that the Akufo-Addo government was heading to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Former President John Dramani Mahama said the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia must be removed as head of the Economic Management Team (EMT) because he has failed.
Mr Mahama also said that Ken Ofori-Atta has supervised disastrous collapse of the economy therefore he cannot and should not be part of the team of negotiators for the engagements with the IMF.
In a statement welcoming the decision by the Akufo-Ado administration to head to the IMF, Mr Mahama said on Saturday July 2 that “The Finance Minister who has supervised the disastrous collapse of the economy cannot and should not be part of the team of negotiators. He has lost credibility and the trust and confidence of stakeholders in our economy. President Akufo-Addo must take a bold decision to replace his finance minister immediately with a more assured and competent person who is willing and able to work tirelessly to turn our almost hopeless situation around.
‘In addition, given his obvious failures, the Vice President must be relieved of his responsibility as Chair of the Economic Management Team to enable the President to reconstitute the team. We must draw useful lessons from this episode and avoid cheap politicking with the economy; that can only yield the disastrous outcomes that have brought us here,” Mr Mahama said in a Facebook post on Saturday July 2.
However, speaking at the #3businesscolloquium organised by Media General on Wednesday July 6, Dr John Kwakye rejected such calls saying that “He should be there because it will dent international image of Ghana if you remove him at this time”.
By Vincent Kubi