The Minority Leader in parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson, has accused the government of burden shifting instead of the burden sharing it proposed since the country’s economic crisis began.
He said the domestic debt exchange programme is the government’s way of transferring its bankrupt nature to individuals, banks, and Ghanaians at large.
Ato Forson asserted that Ghana is the first country ever to undergo debt restructuring and this is the first time the country has defaulted on its domestic debts.
Speaking on the floor of parliament on February 16, 2023, noted that the country’s current status was and is still an avoidable phase if the government commitment to embark on stringent expenditure cut measures.
“Domestic debt restructuring is like surgery; you don’t do it if you are not sure. There is a good reason no African country has restructured its debts. There is a good reason Ghana has never defaulted on the payment of domestic debts. Today Ghana is the first country ever to restructure its debts. This is the first time we have defaulted on our debt payment,” he stated.
The Minority Leader further stated: “Instead of the government engaging in burden sharing, they are engaging in burden shifting, Burden shifting in the sense that if the country is going on a very catastrophic, it shows by cutting expenditure. But what this government is doing, is shifting the burden to the ordinary Ghanaian. By the time this government will be done with what they are doing, the insolvency we are seeing, the bankrupt Ghana we will now see bankrupt pensioners, bankrupt individuals, and bankrupt rural banks.”
“We are only transferring the bankruptcy from the central government to individuals, unfortunately, our country is simply bankrupt,” he concluded.