Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, the member of Parliament for Tamale Central Constituency, has poked fun at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration for celebrating Ghana’s acceptance of the first installment of the $3 billion bailout funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The lawmaker questioned the government’s celebration of a debt that will hang an albatross over Ghanaians’ necks.
In an interview, Murtala criticized the administration for its careless economic management, which led to the IMF agreement. He criticized the government for attributing the nation’s economic problems to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The government is being disingenuous to attribute the economic challenges to the Russia-Ukraine war and COVID-19. Sincerity matters in politics, you need to be very sincere to the people. These are a group of people [government] who told us that they will never go to the IMF.
“And that this country, we have everything we ever wanted, therefore we will not go to IMF, and boom they are at the IMF. And now they are celebrating for going in for a loan. They are celebrating debts, compiling debts for this country, and they expect us to join them in that euphoria?”
Murtala Ibrahim
He claimed that rather than Ghana, other African nations ought to be raising objections to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“The NDC is cautioning them just as we cautioned them when they refused to listen. At the time when we asked them to go to the IMF, they refused to do so. And they are doing so at a time when nothing significant will come out of it. They have disastrously mismanaged the economy.
“If there’s going to be an impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, Ghana will not be the only country that will be affected. As a matter of fact, many of these countries depend on Russia and Ukraine more than we depend on them. Trade relation between Ghana and Russia in 2008 was about $140 million, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso were more than that.”
Murtala Ibrahim
Ghana Will Benefit From The US Government’s $300 Million Grant To Construct A Pioneering Data Center In Accra.
Last Friday, Ghana received $600 million from the IMF as part of the three-year extended loan support.
Funding for African nations, including Ghana, totaling $300 million has been announced by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
The Corporation announced that it is constructing a first-of-its-kind data center in Ghana utilizing its $300 million lending facility to Africa Data Centers (ADCs), Africa’s largest network of interconnected data centers.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the $3 billion bailout approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had restored investor confidence in the economy, which allowed Ghana to profit from this facility.
The Office of the Finance Minister tweeted: “Following the #IMFDeal, the @UnitedStates has led the way to signal renewed confidence in Ghana as an attractive investment destination. We welcome the announcement of a $300m private capital investment through @DFCgov, to build a first-of-its-kind data center in Ghana.”
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