'This government is very talented at failure' - Isaac Adongo

The Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, has criticised the government's handling of the current International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

According to him, the government "is very talented at failure” when it comes to managing IMF programmes in Ghana.

In an interview with TV3 aired on July 28, 2024, Adongo accused the government of failing to meet key targets and accumulating new arrears.

"These people are very talented at failure. They don't have a track record of ever successfully managing an ECF programme in Ghana," he said.

He pointed out that the government had previously left an IMF programme incomplete and is now repeating past mistakes.

He further explained that the current programme, which is about two years old, has already seen the government accumulate a huge sum in new arrears, despite a commitment to maintain zero accumulation of arrears.

"They(IMF) said, 'Look, from now onwards, be current on your arrears. Don't accumulate any further arrears throughout the programme.' Do you know what they did throughout the programme? They already have accumulated 4.5 billion arrears," he said.

He also noted that the government has missed several other targets, including addressing the solvency challenges of the National Investment Bank (NIB) and amending the Bank of Ghana Act to enhance the central bank's autonomy.

Adongo criticised the lack of progress on these issues, stating that there is no draft document before the cabinet for the NIB strategy and no proposals for the Bank of Ghana Act amendments.

"There were issues with the financial residual issues with the financial sector, including NIB. They were supposed to meet this target by March of 2024. We are now in July. Four months down the line, they haven't met it.

"They were supposed to present proposals to the cabinet to approve recommendations for amending the Bank of Ghana Act to give the Bank of Ghana better autonomy. The deadline was May ending. Till now, there is nothing like that," he said.

Adongo likened the government's failure to follow through on the IMF programme's prescriptions to a patient ignoring a doctor's advice, warning that the consequences would be severe.

"A doctor has given you prescriptions, you have gone to do the test and you have returned with test results. The diagnosis is that you must take this pill morning, afternoon, evening, otherwise your madness will come again. You took it the morning. In the afternoon you didn't take. In the evening you didn't take. If you see you sweeping in the market, should you be surprised?" he quizzed.

See the full interview below;



ID/ ADG