Fellow at CDD Ghana and Pharmacist, Dr Kwame Asiedu Sarpong has dismissed the Finance Minister Amin Adams’s apology for the economic hardships faced by Ghanaians as a mere political ploy.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, apologized to Ghanaians for the hardships they are experiencing due to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
His apology comes after the Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, advised members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to admit their mistakes in the management of the economy and apologize to Ghanaians
During a town hall meeting in Accra on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, Dr. Amin Adam explained that the DDEP was a requirement set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), making its implementation necessary.
According to Dr. Sarpong, the Finance Minister apology was seen as an attempt to shift blame away from the govt’s policies which has been widely criticized for contributing to the country’s economic challenges.
He pointed out that the govt bad decisions led to the debt restructuring, resulting in the current difficulties.
He emphasized “The first thing he should apologize for is the mistakes they made, which led us to go through these hardships. If he had apologized that they didn’t do well and that their bad decisions made us go through these difficult conditions, the reason we did the debt restructuring which has yielded us into this difficult situation, so forgive us, I would have understood.”
Speaking in an interview with Millicent Safo Adu, Dr Sarpong refuted the Minister’s claim that the hardship was necessary, despite not desired is unacceptable.
He stated “Because of their poor governance, the debt restructuring was successful; 94% accepted it, including myself, but he does not accept his wrongs. He should stop blaming COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.”
He further argued that the Minister should have apologized for their mistakes, which led to 54% inflation, and not just swept the failures under the rug.
“He should accept that bad decisions resulted in 54% inflation. When they realize that the decisions were poor and that they corrected it, inflation is now 23%, so we’re sorry is acceptable.
Dr Sarpong continued “If you don’t accept the decisions that you made, which have led us to where we are, then what you did to make it right is what you are accepting,” he quizzes.
Dr Asiedu Sarpong expressed that the Minister’s claim of not intending to impose hardships is unconvincing, given the warnings raised about excessive borrowing
He indicated “I disagree with his statement that it is not their intention to impose hardships on the people because, when they started borrowing, people raised the alarm that borrowing was too much. They responded that it was strategic borrowing”.
However, while Dr Asiedu Sarpong acknowledges the improvement in Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio, he argued that the success is largely due to the IMF program and inflows from development partners.
“Yes, you will say it was successful because of the IMF program or the inflows coming from our development partners, but we are not open to the capital market”.
Source: www.kumasimail.com/ Kwadwo Owusu
