Sophia Akuffo
Former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo has been assessing the performance of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta describing it as very disappointing. She said considering the current state of the economy, his performance couldn’t be anything but disappointing.
According to her, the Finance Minister has failed to protect the national purse since he took office hence driving the country’s economy into a mess.
She said Ken has caused the national purse to be depleted.
“I recall that when he became Minister of Finance in 2017, I heard him on the TV. He was talking and he was saying that it is his responsibility to protecting the National coffers.
“Now the promise and the achievement, the gap is too big and I need no explanation. I think that’s it. You know you’ll be surprised when it comes to a lot of things I take things from the most simplified format and I don’t want to be complex about all kind of things because I am not an economist. I’am
not going to be able to argue all kinds of business and so forth, no.
“All I know is that you were going to protect the national coffers but they are now empty. Whether they were empty at that time is neither here or there because you’re not going to protect the empty things because you’re going to protect it to ensure everything that comes into it are going to be well husbanded. I’m using that word is old fashioned term you know. And so we would go on and we will not reverse again, yes.
“So it has been very disappointing. whether it was Mr. Ofori-Atta or Mr. Terkper. You know in public things with the Republic of Ghana things that are matters for public interest, I don’t get personal, it is not personal?,” she said on a sidelines of a programme organised by the IEA.
Asked if she specifically has any fundamental problem with how the minister was handling the economy, Justice Akuffo said, “All I know is that you were going to protect the national coffers, they are now empty. It has been very disappointing.
The retired Supreme Court Justice believes Mr. Ofori-Atta has not lived up to expectations.
“If it were somebody else, I will still feel the same. The person who was given the responsibility to manage the economy, I don’t think he has done a good job,” she added.
Ghana’s economy is currently on the crossroads with the government running to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support programme.
Inflation and petroleum products prices have skyrocketed as the local currency is gasping for breath against the international currencies, especially the dollar.
By Vincent Kubi