The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has challenged the government’s claims of stabilizing the economy, asserting that President Akufo-Addo is avoiding responsibility for his administration’s fiscal irresponsibility, which has led to the current economic challenges.
The NDC argues that the government cannot boast of economic stability without acknowledging its own role in causing the current state of the economy.
Fifi Kwetey, the General Secretary of the NDC, criticized the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, accusing him of attempting to cover up the government’s mismanagement of the economy.
“The kind of collapse we have seen in terms of the economy is one that requires a certain amount of humility. To rush quickly and want to start beating your chest and applauding, it indicates that somehow they have not learned as quickly as they should,” he said.
He said, “by no means can you call this ‘turning the corner.’ In the first place, you can’t even call it turning the corner. A situation where inflation has gone up to over 50 per cent, and now they are trying to bring inflation down to some 30 or a little below 30, you call it turning the corner?”
Mr. Kwetey further pointed out that the government is claiming to have stabilized the economy because it is desperate to look good.
“The very fact that they still allow the country to believe that the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 are the real reasons why we are where we are tells me that this is a group that simply has not accepted responsibility,” he continued.
Although he accepts that there were external economic shocks during the period, he believes, “those obstacles have been faced by other countries, but no country in West Africa or Africa has gone through what we’ve gone through.”
Mr Kwetey added that the government not accepting responsibility shows that they have no genuine remorse.
“There’s not even an acceptance of the real acts of irresponsibility, fiscal irresponsibility, and moral leadership irresponsibility that have brought us here. So to jump quickly and start celebrating worries me because it’s like you haven’t really learned. And therefore, if you are given an opportunity, you quickly run it down again.”