Cut down on frivolous expenditure – NDC man tells Ofori-Atta

A member of the opposition NDC communication team has admonished the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to use state funds judiciously and work towards revamping the ailing economy.

Adel Ibrahim, who was not happy about how the country’s resources have been managed under the Akufo-Addo administration in the past 7 years, indicated that the reckless spending of the government was what sent Ghana to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

Speaking on Dwaboase on TV XYZ, Adel pointed at some bad financial decisions the government took that have not helped the economic growth of the country although the NPP, while in opposition, promised Ghanaians of good governance that would create wealth for all.

One such decision, he said, was the unrestricted borrowing under the auspices of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta which propelled Ghana’s debt to GDP beyond 100%.

“The amount of money NDC borrowed under the reign of President John Mahama was approximately 120 billion and we can account for it, but after being sworn into power in 2017, the amount of money the Akufo-Addo administration is over 500 billion and there’s nothing to account for after taking the loans,” Adel argued.

He proceeded to say that, the President has failed to honour the oath to protect the citizens and the public purse due to the wanton dissipation of public funds, adding that the fact that projects cannot be shown for the huge debt Ghana has incurred shows that President Akufo-Addo has no love for the people.

Describing politicians or appointees of Akufo-Addo as “thieves”, Adel explained that Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, appeared before Parliament and was asked about the contingency Vault, funds set aside to be used in times of crisis, and the minister could not answer what happened to the funds only for some investigations to disclose that some of the funds were used to fund the construction of the national cathedral.

He said the illegality of the Finance Minister’s action should be used against him someday.

“Due to the good policies the NDC put in place to manage the economy between 2014 and 2016, the IMF and World Bank predicted that the country’s economy would grow by at least 7.9% by 2017, but under President Akuffo-Addo, he could not do anything with the proceeds of the loans his government has taken,” he said.

To him, NDC puts the needs of the citizens first which is why they embarked on projects that will create jobs for the people, citing the construction of the Ridge Hospital and the Terminal 3 at the Kotoka International Airport among others.

Umar Ibrahim further went on to lambast the Akufo-Addo government for poorly managing the country’s economy and argued that if the 2015 power crisis (Dumsor) had happened under the NPP government had gone through instead of NDC, the country would have tumbled.