Independent presidential candidate Alan Kyerematen claimed he was the first high-ranking official to publicly support the government’s decision to seek assistance from the IMF, while the vice president and finance minister remained silent.
He also said that he pushed hard for Ghana to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help when the country’s economy was struggling. He made this revelation on Citi TV in response to those who said that the former minister for trade and industries was silent when the economy was in crisis.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been accused by Alan Kyerematen of making excuses rather than offering concrete plans to address Ghana’s economic woes. He claims he persuaded the Ghanaian government to apply for assistance from the IMF and other Bretton Woods institutions.
“I can put it on record that the minister of finance cannot deny this, and the vice president himself cannot deny this as well. I was a member of the economic management team, and the people who have been part of this system will tell you that I was the one who, at the time when it became clear that the numbers were so bad, made a strong case that we are not going to listen to the wailing of the minister of finance again,” he stated.
“Always giving excuses about what he can do to turn it around and all that, I made a strong argument that the minister for finance has no basis for going around saying that we will not go to the IMF because he is unable to provide any alternative. I told them that where we were at the time, we had no choice but to go to the IMF if they were true.”
“So, when the president finally made the decision, I was the first person in a leadership position who went publicly to defend the position of the IMF. Did you hear the vice president or the finance minister come to defend the IMF?” he added.
