How Osafo-Maafo 'ditched' Senchi economic forum under Mahama over NPP threat

Prior to Ghana's negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for economic support under the erstwhile administration led by John Dramani Mahama in 2015, the government held a National Economic Forum, which birthed the Senchi Consensus.

Sharing details about the Senchi Forum in light of Ghana's recently approved IMF program under the current Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration, former President Mahama has revealed how a former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning chickened out of the 2015 forum over threats from his political party.

According to Mahama, Nana Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who is now a Senior Presidential Advisor in the current government, abandoned the Senchi Forum after initially agreeing to participate.

"We should have put our house together before going into an IMF program, and that is what we successfully did in 2015. Do you remember the Senchi Forum? We organized it to come up with a homegrown fiscal consolidation policy. We invited industry, academia, civil society, political parties; everyone participated, except the NPP. They refused to come and threatened to sanction any of their members who attended," the former president said, while delivering the keynote speech at the 7th Ghana CEOs Summit in Accra on Monday, May 22, 2023.

He noted that the former minister, who had initially agreed to take part in the forum, rescinded his decision, leaving only Kwame Pianim, a senior economist, as the sole member of the then-opposition NPP to participate in the Senchi Forum.

"So Osafo-Maafo had agreed to come, but at the last minute, he pulled out because his party threatened to sanction him. The only brave NPP person who attended was Kwame Pianim, and I still respect him to this day," Mr. Mahama said.

According to former President Mahama, unlike the IMF program initiated during his leadership, the recently approved program failed to undertake proper prior reforms by the government, making it a badly negotiated deal.

Last week, the IMF approved a $3 billion economic recovery facility for Ghana, which has faced severe economic pressure since late 2019.

The government largely attributes the economic challenges to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War, but the opposition believes the situation is due to mismanagement of the economy by the government.



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