Former Deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has taken a swipe at the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, for saying that the country is out of the economic woes when he presented the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Statement in Parliament on July 31, 2023.
Speaking in an interview on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme, on August 1, 2023, Felix Ofosu accused Ofori-Atta of lying to Ghanaians about the state of Ghana’s economy.
According to him, the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Government has completely failed and it cannot explain its failure away with excuses.
“Some people claim they have turned a certain corner. I’m not sure which corner it is, whether it is ‘corners in’ or ‘mama’s corner’ or ‘corners stone’. Which corner have they turned around… ‘4 corners’?”
“The NPP has been a spectacular failure in the management of the economy. There is no explanation, it does matter which corner you have turned whether ‘4 corners’, or ‘8 corners’,” he said.
“And I say they have been a spectacular failure based purely on facts. It is not conjecture, it is not by gut feeling, it is what actually exists on the ground,” he noted.
He further stated that the Akufo-Addo government has failed because the current stance of the Ghanaian economy is far from what they promised.
What Ofori-Atta said?
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said that Ghana is making significant progress in its economic recovery process.
According to him, the data on Ghana’s economic variables shows that the country is recovering from the economic meltdown it suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war.
Ofori-Atta made these remarks while he was presenting the mid-year budget review for 2023 on July 31, 2023, on the floor of parliament.
“Mr. Speaker, it is no exaggeration to say we cannot find another period in our history where so many different headwinds hit our economy at the same time with unrelenting speed and scale. Thankfully, as the numbers are beginning to show and as many Hon. Members of the House have indicated to me in our engagements, we have, together as a nation, turned the corner.
“Mr. Speaker, we have avoided the unimaginable, but what could have been so easily possible under different leadership circumstances. With a lot of effort, we have managed to avoid empty shop shelves for medicines and other essentials; we have seen no shortages of food; we have been spared the frustrating spectre of long queues for fuel at our filling stations; and, we have managed, in spite of all the challenges, to keep the lights on. Indeed, as the Psalmist said (in Psalm 118:23) this is the LORD’s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes,” he said.
The minister also said that the measures put in place by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government, including the implementation of the International Monetary Fund bailout, helped Ghana “turned the corner”.
“This ‘turning the corner’ is underpinned by the investments and sacrifices we have collectively made during this difficult period since March, 2020,” he added.
Watch the interview below:
Source: ghanaweb.com
