The Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan S. Suhuyini has advised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led government to do away with its “arrogant posturing” amidst talks about the debt exchange programme.
In an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Suhuyini stated that government should desist from projecting itself as “knowing it all” and also stop making decisions on behalf of the public without consultation.
“This is where we should all put our patriotic caps on and look at how we can help the government to at least, get the staff-level agreement. But we will hope that moving forward, they will shed off that arrogant posturing of knowing it all and taking decisions on our behalf without consulting us and expecting to consult us after they have taken some of these decisions,” he said.
Speaking about the budget, Mr. Suyuhini who indicated that government’s approaches are not “comprehensive enough”, stated that they have adopted interventions which they opposed during the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime.
Sharing his perspective on the debt exchange programme, the legislator said activities of the Akufo-Addo-led government have vindicated the Minority.
He explained that despite their vindication, “better engagement” would reduce the level of opposition emanating from the public in respect of the debt exchange programme.
The prevailing level of opposition, he said could hamper the IMF negotiations.
The Tamale North legislator therefore urged government to show concern by cutting down expenditure.
“But most importantly, they must demonstrate that they are willing to take a haircut themselves,” he concluded.
Ghana’s negotiation with the IMF is expected to reach its peak with Ken Ofori-Atta leading the charge after a failed censure motion to remove him.
The debt exchange programme has been rejected by many individual and corporate bondholders since it was announced by government. The programme seeks to stabilize the hard-hit economy which many, including experts have said is the fault of the Finance Minister, hence the call for his removal.
Due to the debt restructuring, domestic bondholders will receive interest payments that are zero percent in 2023 and five percent in 2024.
In an effort to re-establish the country’s ability to service its debt, existing domestic bonds as of December 1, 2022, will also be swapped for a series of four new bonds expiring in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2037.
Source: myjoyonline