You have made Ghana broke under inexcusable, avoidable circumstances – OccupyGhana slams Akufo-Addo government

Occupy Ghana, a civil society organization, has accused Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's government of bankrupting Ghana.

Describing the recent debt exchange programme announced by the government as painful to affected Ghanaians, OccupyGhana, in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, has attributed the country's current economic situation to the actions and failures of the government.

"OccupyGhana has noted, with considerable concern, the Finance Minister's announcements on restructuring portfolio investments. While IMF support depends on the proposed 'haircuts,' they are extremely painful to the many Ghanaians who have participated in these investments. Simply, under this government's watch, Ghana has become broke under circumstances that were avoidable and are inexcusable and unpardonable.

"As we stated in our Press Release dated 28 October 2022 (Our ref: OG/2022/050) and titled GHANA'S CURRENT ECONOMIC SITUATION — OUR THOUGHTS AND PROPOSALS, the nation would not be in this situation, but for the government's failed, risky economic strategy that borrowed heavily from the international market to fund expenditure, pay maturing debt, support the cedi, and possibly control the effect of the depreciation on inflation," the group said.

Describing the government's strategy as risky, OccupyGhana said the country's woes, despite attempts by the government to blame them on external factors, have only been exposed by such events.

"This risky strategy effectively relied on good fortune and extremely astute economic management, both of which failed. Thus, although the Government would seek to blame the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war for this disaster, it cannot evade or avoid the fact that our debt was unsustainable even before these external factors kicked in and compounded an already precarious situation," OccupyGhana said.

While questioning the legality of the government's attempt to vary the terms of bonds sold to local government bondholders, OccupyGhana said the government must accept its failures and show commitment to doing better.

The group thus proffered ten recommendations, which it said the government should act on to earn the confidence of the Ghanaian people and restore the economy.

As part of its proposals, OccupyGhana said the president must cut the size of his government by half and revise tax exemptions, including those granted to income and gains from portfolio investments.

Read the full statement by OccupyGhana below:

GA/SEA