Baseless, senseless: Lecturer slams colleagues for misleading public on economic discussions

A Development Economist and a Research Fellow at the University of Ghana, Dr. George Domfeh, has blasted some professors for misinforming the public on economic reform issues.

Dr. Domfeh claims that such colleagues lack the intellectual competence to discuss economic reforms, therefore they are misleading the public by offering advice on how to rebuild the struggling economy.

He argues that the ideas that the said professors are putting forth are inappropriate for consideration given the realities of economic management.

“One university professor in my own university, Legon, said on one of your sister’s stations that he is advising the government of Ghana to suspend ex-gratia until 2040, if not the fiscal stands (fiscal reforms) can never be successful.

“And to me, this was a childish talk coming from a professor at my university... It was childish because he said until 2040 before we should start paying ex-gratia. 2040, what did he see there?

“It is just from his personal viewpoint with no study to back it. It is baseless because you are a professor, and a lot of people are listening to you, so it will mislead policies,” he said.

Speaking in an interview with Wontumi TV, he explained further: “Some people are misleading policy in the country, talking about ex-gratia, the discussion has gone wrong to the extent that everyone is attributing our problems to (ex-gratia).

“Let me say this, the last time ex-gratia was paid, the total amount that the government paid was GH¢207 million Ghana Cedis, which everyone listening to me can verify.

“And it is paid every four years, so if you divide it by four, technically every year, we spend 52 million on ex-gratia, and our budget is 205 billion. So, what have you done if you stop paying the ex-gratia?

“If you say, those little ones are contributing factors, I would have agreed but if you go and say that is our main problem, it means that you don’t understand the public sector of economics…but because everyone is saying something, you also want to contribute because you are a professor.”

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