'Stone-hearted', 'Arabian king-like' Akufo-Addo the 'Nebuchadnezzar' of our time – Ahmed Ibrahim

Deputy Minority Chief Whip Ahmed Ibrahim has likened the posture of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in government to the reign of the stone-hearted biblical Nebuchadnezzar.

He said the president, in government, has hardened his heart while his people suffer in the face of the economic downturn.

He added that the wasteful lifestyle of the president has also contributed to the economic hardship.

"The president is living a lifestyle of an Arabian king," he posited.

He reiterated that had the president heeded some of the wise counsels to him from well-meaning people in the country, "we will not be here.”

"The country is grinding to a halt because the president has closed his ears to wise counsel on the economy.

"The president can elect to close his ears to wise counsel here but he cannot elect to do the same to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials who ensure the country gets a haircut," he added.

He noted that "it is only under the administration of the president that the followers have vision instead of the leader having the vision to enable him to lead his people".

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Banda Constituency in the Bono Region gave this description to the posture of the president while speaking in an interview with Emmanuel Quarshie, host of the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, November 8, 2022.

He said “last year, 2021, when the NDC through its spokesperson on finance Dr Cassiel Ato Forson suggested to the government to go to the IMF for a bailout because of the government’s reckless borrowing. They questioned our rationale for making that suggestion but here we are today without any programme at the IMF like the NDC did with the Senchi meeting before presenting a home-grown programme to the IMF for a bailout in 2015.”

"The government, led by the president, has turned a blind eye to all these suggestions and sat aloof for things to deteriorate further," he bemoaned.

Meanwhile, in his state address on the economic crisis on Sunday, 30 October 2022, President Nana Akufo-Addo despite conceding that Ghana is in crisis was hopeful his government would turn things around.