Former President John Dramani Mahama has told the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer, that the Ghanaian government’s poor economic decisions have exacerbated the country’s economic woes.
Mr Mahama cited the cleaning up of the banking sector, which resulted in the failure of indigenous banks and finance institutions, as examples of poor decisions made by this government.
He claimed that this, combined with corruption and misappropriation of COVID-19 funds, which he claimed were shared with party officials, had exacerbated the problems.
Mr Mahama made these remarks during a meeting with the American Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer, about issues of mutual interest to Ghana and America.
The current state of Ghana’s economy, regional security and its implications for Ghana, a review of the constitution, investment in local industries, and what the National Democratic Congress (NDC) believes is the Electoral Commission’s hostility to the NDC were all discussed during the discussions.
According to him, the government had nearly GH30 billion in COVID-19 relief support from internal and external sources such as the IMF and the World Bank, “a huge amount that would have been more than enough to handle any crisis if the money had been used well and not abused.”
He did, however, express confidence that the government’s handling of the economy would become more disciplined as a result of the IMF programme.
Also read this: Ghana’s economic challenges not due to bad policies
Our Embassy's Foreign Commercial Services led an 18-person Ghana delegation to #Gastech2022 to meet potential U.S. business partners. 🇬🇭Energy Minister @MatthewOPrempeh spoke about opportunities in Ghana’s gas sector and a just energy transition for developing countries. pic.twitter.com/RrYyV0NhSr
— U.S. Embassy Ghana (@USEmbassyGhana) September 7, 2022
“Confidence will be restored only when people understand that we are part of a programme and that the government will not act as recklessly as it has in the past,” he said.
“We have been very restrained in our opposition because we are aware of the gravity of the situation.”
“We’ve been very generous in advising them on what they should do.”
“However, this is a very arrogant group of people who would not want to appear to have taken advice from anyone else. We have the men, they have this mantra.”
Unfortunately, the men appear to be at a loss for what to do.”
Earlier, Ambassador Virginia E. Palmer congratulated Mr Mahama on his book ‘My First Coup D’etat,’ which she said provided her with a good understanding of Ghana.
She described the book as “very well-written,” and she recommends it to others interested in Ghana.
Follow Clicks ‘n Likes On Facebook for more updates
