Kwaku Kwarteng, serving as the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament and representing Obuasi West in the Ashanti region, diverges from government communicators’ perspective on Ghana’s economic challenges.
He contended that the root cause lies not solely in global events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but rather in the imprudent public spending and economic mismanagement spanning across successive administrations.
The Civil engineer, economist, and politician rejects the notion that Ghana’s financial downturn would have been averted without these global crises.
According to him, the nation was inevitably heading towards economic hardship due to the prevailing trajectory, albeit possibly delayed if not for the external crises.Mr. Kwarteng underscores the imperative for a paradigm shift towards fiscal responsibility to prevent further economic deterioration.
He stresses the inadequacy of existing laws and institutions in addressing economic mismanagement, emphasizing that without a collective commitment to change, legislative measures and institutional frameworks alone cannot mitigate the crisis.
He said, “I am not with the school of thought that we were not going to experience a financial crisis but for COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War.”
“The country was always going to have some financial crisis. It might have been delayed a little bit if COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war had not happened but the fact remains that with the path we were walking, we were definitely going to get here.”
“We have the laws and we’ve set up institutions that should help us deal with these, but no amount of legislation, no amount of institutional arrangements can stop a people determined to destroy themselves.”
God bless you Mr. Kwarteng. I like your brevity. You have really shown your nationalism. People like you are needed in the country. You have hit the nail right on the head. Ghana is finished under this Akyem Mafia. Never again.
We knew where the problem comes from the finance minister can not spend money on his own except his master makes the demand and he cannot refuse it he can only advice but if he refuses this is where we find ourselve. The should be limit of how far we can go and that is it.
For this stand, I must say Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng is proving honourable indeed. Then in opposition, I saw him as a diehard NPP man and propagandist. Now after passing through the fires himself, I am happy to hear stark truth coming from him!
Truly, Agyemang is your name!
The man is being honest and a citizen. God will bless him for his honesty and candid opinion.