Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has taken a swipe at President Akufo-Addo for raising the hopes of Ghanaians with regards to the period in which the country would obtain a credit facility worth $3billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Addressing members of the Diplomatic Corps at the Peduase Lodge in February, the president gave the assurance that the two parties will broker a deal by the end of March to ensure Ghana’s economy sees a recovery.
“I am confident that with the cooperation we have received from the members of the Paris Club and the People’s Republic of China, which sent a delegation from China’s EXIM Bank to Accra over the weekend to meet with officials of the Ministry of Finance, we shall be able to go to the Board of the Fund to conclude finally the agreement by the end of March,” he said.
However, it has been seven days since the deadline provided by the government elapsed and the government is yet to make a statement about the matter – a situation that has left the North Tongu MP dissatisfied.
In a social media post on April 5, 2023, Mr Ablakwa vented his spleen, arguing that the President Akufo-Addo-led government must answer to Ghanaians and provide reasons why Ghana is yet to conclude its engagement with the Fund.
“What should happen when a President and his top officials assure Parliament and the entire nation on multiple occasions that Ghana will secure an IMF bailout deal by March this year?
Should the citizenry, like their government functionaries, pretend that March didn’t end five days ago? Don’t Ghanaians deserve an apology and an explanation at the very least?” he quizzed.
“Leadership must respect the Ghanaian people,” the legislator added.
He insisted that the government must bear the brunt of its actions as it was cautioned by relevant stakeholders in the economy to be measured in its expectation of an IMF-credit facility in the shortest possible time.
“Why did so many experts, civil society and the opposition foresee that a March deal was ridiculously impossible, and yet President Akufo-Addo kept issuing firmer assurances including when he delivered his Message on the State of the Nation in Parliament,” Mr Ablakwa wrote.
To prevent such an incident from recurring, Mr Ablakwa has called for the amendment of Parliament’s Standing Orders (Order 174) to “expressly make an opposition MP the Chair of the Committee on Government Assurances and to provide for strict consequences for grand governmental deception.”
Background
The IMF staff and the Ghanaian authorities in December 2022, reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about US$3 billion.
This was six months after Ghana officially commenced engagement with the Fund.
Current challenge
Ghana has not been able to secure financing assurances from its partners and creditors. For this reason, it has been unable to present its programme request to the Executive Board for approval.
China, Germany are among the countries yet to give Ghana the green light. Per reports, China is Ghana’s single biggest bilateral creditor with $1.7 billion of debt. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is however optimistic that China would come on board.
What has been said about March deadline
The Finance Minister has warned that the economy would collapse should Ghana fail to secure an agreement with the IMF by March.
Currently, it cannot be said that the economy has collapsed, but the country is facing an economic crisis.
Meanwhile, Former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, who stated that a March deadline was not achievable, is predicting the end of May 2023 as the likely date for which the Board of the International Monetary Fund will approve a programme for Ghana.
Source: The Independent Ghana