Should Otumfuo intervene in the IMF bailout negotiations as he did for Mahama?

The government has stated that it hopes to include the agreements reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the bailout it is seeking in the 2023 National Budget, which will be presented to Parliament in November 2022 for consideration. The IMF, after initial negotiations, has indicated that for Ghana to get the bailout it is seeking, the government must simply prove that its debt level is sustainable. Many analysts, including the vice president of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, have intimated that it is nearly impossible for the government to get a deal with the IMF before the budget is presented in the next 3 weeks. Renowned economist and statesman, Kwame Pianim, has said that the information he has indicates that the bailout negotiations are not going well. This is the time the country needs someone like the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, whose intervention, according to former President John Dramani Mahama, was critical to Ghana getting an IMF programme in 2015. Mahama, in February 2022, said that he called on Otumfuo Osei Tutu to enquire from him whether he could get his friend, the then President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, to work on the IMF programme for the government, and the Asantehene readily accepted the request. “Because of that programme, he (Otumfuo) flew to Washington to have talks with Mr. Wolfensohn, who, together with Otumfuo, went and spoke with the IMF Director, Madam Christine Lagarde, and within a short period of time, we had the Extended Credit Facility,” the ex-president said. To date, the Otumfuo has not commented on the current IMF negotiations the government is having, probably because it has refused to call for a national dialogue on the current economic crisis like the one Mahama's administration had in 2014. "If the Akufo-Addo government needs the IMF bailout as it has indicated to help turn the economy around them it has to start bringing people like Otumfuo on board," the former president said. Watch Mahama narrates how Otumfuo helped Ghana get an IMF programme in 2015: You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/BOG

The government has stated that it hopes to include the agreements reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the bailout it is seeking in the 2023 National Budget, which will be presented to Parliament in November 2022 for consideration. The IMF, after initial negotiations, has indicated that for Ghana to get the bailout it is seeking, the government must simply prove that its debt level is sustainable. Many analysts, including the vice president of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, have intimated that it is nearly impossible for the government to get a deal with the IMF before the budget is presented in the next 3 weeks. Renowned economist and statesman, Kwame Pianim, has said that the information he has indicates that the bailout negotiations are not going well. This is the time the country needs someone like the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, whose intervention, according to former President John Dramani Mahama, was critical to Ghana getting an IMF programme in 2015. Mahama, in February 2022, said that he called on Otumfuo Osei Tutu to enquire from him whether he could get his friend, the then President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, to work on the IMF programme for the government, and the Asantehene readily accepted the request. “Because of that programme, he (Otumfuo) flew to Washington to have talks with Mr. Wolfensohn, who, together with Otumfuo, went and spoke with the IMF Director, Madam Christine Lagarde, and within a short period of time, we had the Extended Credit Facility,” the ex-president said. To date, the Otumfuo has not commented on the current IMF negotiations the government is having, probably because it has refused to call for a national dialogue on the current economic crisis like the one Mahama's administration had in 2014. "If the Akufo-Addo government needs the IMF bailout as it has indicated to help turn the economy around them it has to start bringing people like Otumfuo on board," the former president said. Watch Mahama narrates how Otumfuo helped Ghana get an IMF programme in 2015: You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/BOG