Isaac Adongo, the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, has challenged recent comments by Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu in defense of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu defended Dr. Bawumia, stating that the Vice President cannot be solely blamed for economic challenges as the ultimate responsibility lies with President Akufo-Addo.
Adongo rebuffed this defense, asserting that Dr. Bawumia was well aware that the ultimate responsibility rested with the President.
He questioned the Vice President’s earlier statement where he assured Ghanaians that the free fall of the Cedi had been controlled, asking, “You went out and told them that you had arrested the dollar, you didn’t know that the buck stops with the President?”
During an interview on TV3’s Hot Issues, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu emphasized that the management of the economy is ultimately under the control of the President, and the Vice President’s role is advisory.
He stated, “The buck stops with the President.”
Critics, including former President John Dramani Mahama, have accused Dr. Bawumia of mismanaging the economy. Mahama called for the Vice President’s removal as head of the Economic Management Team, citing perceived failures.
But according to some members of the government and the ruling New Patriotic Party, the party’s 2024 presidential candidate cannot be blamed for the current state of Ghana’s economy as he does not bear the ultimate responsibility in his role as vice president.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in May 2020 touted the management of the Ghanaian foreign exchange by the Akufo-Addo-led government with him in charge of the economic management team.
He alluded that the government had taken vital measures in ensuring stability in the exchange rate.
“I think that fundamentally we have managed the cedi much better by all account.”
“We did arrest the runaway depreciation in the cedi and therefore if you look at the record in terms of the depreciation of the cedi in the last four, five years or eight years, we will see that since the NPP government came to power, the rate of the cedi depreciation is 50% less than what it was before. That is what the data shows, so it’s 50% less.”
“We have arrested the depreciation of the cedi, brought down inflation, we have brought down the interest rate, we have increased growth, reduced unemployment reduced the suffering of the people in terms of paying for electricity and created many jobs,” he stated.
Source: ghanaweb.com
