Economic woes: Ghanaians deserve an apology from Akufo-Addo, Ofori-Atta - Prof Adei

A renowned economist, Prof. Stephen Adei, has said that there has not been an instance where the President and the Minister for Finance have explicitly rendered any apology to Ghanaians over the state of the economy.

He stated that it is a bad practice in Ghana’s political space for politicians to refuse to own up to their shortfalls and wrongdoings.

Prof. Adei said the President must apologise to Ghanaians for “inflicting hardship on them”.

“We have a problem with governance in this country,” the economist said. "People in government whether National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the New Patriotic Party (NPP) do not admit fault. I think it is a bad practice.

“I haven’t heard an explicit statement from the President or Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta, that ‘we are sorry for what has happened to Ghana’, even whether things went beyond our capacity, whether it was Ukraine -Russia war, COVID-19 pandemic,” Adei was quoted by asaasenews.com.

The economist further opined that the admission of fault can go hand in hand with the attribution of the crisis to external factors as has been done in recent times.

“I would have expected the government to say, things are hard in Ghana, we have tried to steady the boat, but we want to apologize for the infliction, not by us but even by some economic circumstances,” he added.

He also added that tough times are ahead no matter the party that wins the 2024 elections.

“The next three years, whether it’s Mahama or any of the NPP candidates, things will be extremely difficult for Ghanaians and it requires mobilising Ghanaians to accept certain realities,” Adei said.

SSD/NOQ

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