Franklin Cudjoe and Kofi Bentil ‘clash’ over Ato Forson-Ofori-Atta performance comparison

President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe and the think tank’s Vice President, Kofi Bentil, have disagreed over the performance of Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson in his first two years in office.

The disagreement followed comments by Kofi Bentil, who compared the first two years of Dr Ato Forson’s tenure as Finance Minister to those of his predecessor, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Speaking on TV3 on November 14, 2026, Kofi Bentil acknowledged that Dr Ato Forson was doing well in managing the economy but argued that two years in office was not enough to make a final assessment of his performance.

He maintained that a comparison of the two ministers’ first two years in office was necessary to assess their respective records, arguing that Ofori-Atta did better.

“The first two years of Ato Forson compared to the first two years of Ofori-Atta, Ofori-Atta did better. Ato is a fantastic minister, but two years is not enough to call finality on anybody’s record. Dear Ato, don’t be sidetracked; focus on what you have to do,” Kofi Bentil said.

However, Franklin Cudjoe disagreed with his vice president’s assessment, questioning the suggestion that Ken Ofori-Atta had performed better during his first two years as Finance Minister.

NPP lawyer, Franklin Cudjoe fight 'dirty' on social media over Dr Ato as 'worst finance minister'

In a social media post, Cudjoe sarcastically suggested that if Ofori-Atta had done such a good job, Kofi Bentil should encourage him to return to Ghana and continue the work he had started.

He further described Bentil’s assessment as false, arguing that the economic conditions under the previous administration were different from those under the current government.

He also credited Dr Ato Forson with reducing Ghana’s debt burden and pointed to changes in lending and inflation rates as evidence of the Finance Minister’s work.

“So that is why you should encourage Ken to come back and continue his wonderful work. The statement is heavily false though! JM did not leave behind a junk-rated economy and certainly our savings and investments were not pickpocketed by government,” he wrote.

He further stated that “Ato cleared the monstrous debt iceberg ever left by a previous government, the NPP, in record time. He is the only known finance minister to have in a single year reduced Ghana’s debt from 65% of GDP to 45% GDP. Today lending rates are 15%, half of what it was under the NPP, and the inflation rate is 5%, when it was 10 times higher at 54%. It is clear as day and night.”

https://t.co/fW9Qq0DITB

— Franklin CUDJOE (@lordcudjoe) November 14, 2026

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