The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoah stated that politicizing the IMF debate is toxic.
Speaking about the new move by government, Mr. Asamoah intimated that where the nation is going and this IMF issue is beyond equalization.
“We brought ourselves there so we need a bipartisan approach and build consensus.”
Yaw Buaben Asamoah
Buaben Asamoah averred that in terms of the politics, there will be equalization but the NPP shouldn’t be ashamed.
“Now, where we stand, like it or not, we must engage the NDC in terms of the politics. We all know how adversarial and toxic it can be and I admit that now, we deserve all the words that will be thrown at us.”
Yaw Buaben Asamoah
Commenting on the new development as well, legal practitioner and a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, stated that government’s decision to opt for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout must humble the Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
“If John Mahama was incompetent, then the NPP economic team that’s leading us to the IMF lacks the competence.”
Nii Samoa Addo
According to Samoa Addo, Dr. Bawumia succeeded in running down the government and painting the NDC black to the extent that the incompetent tag got stuck on John Mahama, and Ghanaians believed that there was a better alternative.
“I’ll give President Akufo-Addo the benefit of the doubt because he’s not said anywhere that he has an economic panacea. The economic management was on the hands of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and that’s one of the reasons why he became Vice-President.”
Nii Samoa Addo
Conditions for going to IMF different
Meanwhile, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has indicated that the conditions that have compelled the Akufo-Addo administration to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support are completely different from the situation that existed previously when Ghana went to the Fund in 2014.
The Information Minister explained that, it is not about the domestic economic management rather, it is about an international crisis-induced phenomena that has brought over one hundred countries including Ghana, to a point where their buffers have been eroded and they need to respond.
Sharing his view on claims that critics are taunting the government for running to the IMF due to how the New Patriotic Party also behaved when in opposition at the time the John Mahama administration went to the IMF for support, Mr Oppong Nkrumah who is also lawmaker for Ofoase Ayirebi stated that when there is self-induced crisis and then there is the need to go to the Fund for a balance of payment support programme, it raises questions about the way fiscal policy, monetary policy and the broader economy is being managed.
“But this is not a situation in which you have a self-induced crisis. This is a different scenario all together.”
Oppong Nkrumah
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