Ofori-Atta sees Ghanaians as unintelligent - Edudzi Tameklo

Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, a member of the National Democratic Congress' legal team has questioned the justifications given by the finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta as to what he believes to be the cause of Ghana's current economic problems, particularly the depreciation of the cedi.

Whiles presenting the 2023 budget to the legislature, Ofori Atta cited the need for foreign exchange as one of the factors contributing to the cedi's collapse.

“The demand for foreign exchange to support our unbridled demand for imports undermines and weakens the value of the cedi. This contributed to the depreciation of the Cedi which has lost about 53% of its value since the beginning of this year, external sector performance in the outlook will depend largely on the quick resolution of the Russian – Ukraine war and the outcome of recession fears in advanced economics.

"The thrust of the external sector will focus on rebuilding external buffers enough to cover at least three and half months of imports of goods and services to cushion the economy against adverse external shocks, ” the finance minister added.

Edudzi, in comments on the minister's position took offense to this and accused the finance minister of insulting the intelligence of regular Ghanaians.

He asserts that by not pointing the finger at utter incompetence as the reason for the country's economic troubles but rather the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the finance minister, he contented was insulting the intelligence of Ghanaians.

Speaking on Okay FM's Ade Akye Abia show, he claimed that Ofori Atta's lack of competence is to blame for the country's problems and that he is not repenting but blaming other factors.

"Instead of exhibiting humility, our minister is not accepting any responsibility. The finance minister has served as minister since 2017. For the purpose of stabilizing the Ghanaian cedi in 2017, he obtained a 2.25 billion loan from Franklin Templeton Eurobond.

In order to stabilize the cedi, he then went into the market for 3 billion euros of Eurobonds in 2018. Why wasn't he discussing about global crises at that time? Because he was using it to stabilize the Cedi.

The cedi finished in 2021 at about 6 cedis. So, when the various rating agencies downgraded the economy in February 2022, which was when the rapid depreciation of the cedi began, Ken Ofori Atta had already proposed to borrow additional funds from the Eurobond market.

"However, because the Ghanaian economy had been downgraded, it was no longer financially advantageous to go there and request loan support from the Eurobond market.

"So, for the first time, he was unable to obtain an additional $2 billion to artificially support in order to provide the artificial impetus for the cedi.

So, if you consider the cedi's devaluation from February 2022 to the present, we have never seen that kind of depreciation before.

He asks, "What does that have to do with Russian Ukraine? That is due to your own policy choices; it has nothing to do with Russia or Ukraine. All the time, he was deluding himself into believing that by having access to the Eurobond market, he was stabilizing the cedi."

AM/SARA