Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Senior Editor of the Insight Newspaper, has sharply criticized former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for giving lectures on how to restore the value of the cedi.
Speaking on the GoodMorning Ghana programme at Metro TV monitored by Kumasimail, Pratt asked why Dr. Bawumia is now lecturing Ghanaians about the cedi.
He pointed out that Dr. Bawumia was Vice President for eight years. During that time, the cedi’s value dropped sharply.
“What right has he got to be lecturing us about how to manage the value of the cedi?” Pratt Jnr. asked.
Pratt reminded Ghanaians that under Dr. Bawumia’s watch, the cedi moved from about GHc3.40 to one US dollar to almost GHc16 to one dollar.
He said that by the end of Dr. Bawumia’s time in office, the cedi was even close to GHc17 to a dollar.
Pratt asked, “Who is speaking? Is it really Dr. Bawumia? He sat in power for eight years. At the end, the cedi was worse off. What right does he have to lecture us about managing the cedi now?”
He continued “You see these chaps, these politicians, what do they take us for? They think that we’re all just a bunch of yo-yos. He is giving us lectures on how to stabilize the cedi after his performance, the performance of his government. I can’t believe it.”
He pointed out that in his first month in office, Dr. Bawumia claimed he had fixed the cedi.
“Is he not same person who was telling us how he has arrested the cedi and giving the key to IGP? Do you take these people serious? Do you take them serious? They should stop these lectures. I mean, we are fed up with these lectures.”
Pratt argued that the recent appreciation of the cedi is due to many factors.
“One of them was simply the trade war which was started by Donald Trump. It had very huge consequences on the value of the dollar worldwide.”
Pratt Jnr acknowledged the appreciation of the Ghanaian cedi against the dollar, stating: “The cedi has improved recently. Yesterday, the dollar was about 12.4 cedis. That’s a big improvement. Everyone can see it,” Pratt remarked.
However, Pratt warned against propaganda about the cedi’s strength.
“The propaganda accompanying this strengthening of the cedi is absolutely nonsensical and will come back to hit those who are prosecuting this propaganda agenda.”
Source: www.kumasimail.com /Kwadwo Owusu
