"I welcome govt’s decision to formally engage IMF"

Former President John Dramani Mahama.

Former President John Dramani Mahama has welcomed the decision of government to formally engage the IMF. According to him the move, marked an important step towards solving the many challenges of the Ghanaian people.

He further challenged the government to put together a thorough homegrown program to be sent to the fund for support. He said this via a post on Facebook monitored by GHANA News ONLINE.

“I welcome President Akufo-Addo’s decision to formally engage the IMF with the view to entering into a programme under the Fund.

“Though belated, it should mark an important step towards addressing the dire economic situation, which has left Ghanaians wallowing under intense suffering and hardships.

“Beyond the announcement of engagement with the IMF, a comprehensive home-grown programme should be fashioned out and presented to the Fund for support. It is imperative that a team of skilled and competent negotiators is put together to obtain the best set of measures with the Fund.”

Mr. Mahama also called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to fire his finance minister who has superintended over a failed economy and has lost the faith and confidence of the Ghanaian people. He continued to ask that; the Vice President be relieved of his responsibilities as the head of government’s economic management team and the team reconstituted.

“The finance minister who has supervised the disastrous collapse of the economy cannot and should not be part of the team of negotiators. He has lost credibility and the trust and confidence of stakeholders in our economy.

“President Akufo-Addo must take a bold decision to replace his finance minister immediately with a more assured and competent person who is willing and able to work tirelessly to turn our almost hopeless situation around.

“In addition, given his obvious failures, the Vice President must be relieved of his responsibility as Chair of the Economic Management Team to enable the President to reconstitute the team.”

Mr. Mahama finally called on all to learn useful lessons from the occurrence and avoid the politics of games and tricks; which have dire consequences on the Ghanaian economy.

“We must draw useful lessons from this episode and avoid cheap politicking with the economy; that can only yield the disastrous outcomes that have brought us here.”

John Mahama's Facebook post below: