'It's insulting' - Randy Abbey chides Minister of Finance over justifications for economic mess

Dr. Randy Abbey, the host of Good Morning Ghana, believes that the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, is not being entirely honest about the activities that landed Ghana’s economy in a state of dystopia.

Speaking on the Wednesday, August 7, 2024, episode of his show, Randy Abbey noted that Dr. Amin Adam is seeking to gaslight Ghanaians with his apology and subsequent justification of the situation that compelled the government to roll out the Domestic Debt Exchange Program (DDEP).

Dr. Abbey noted that the finance minister’s strategy of mentioning developmental projects as the cause of the economic mess is dishonest and an insult to Ghanaians.

Dr. Abbey said that Ghana’s economic struggles were due to the failure of the government to control its expenditure and borrowing.

“When I hear the Finance Minister make those comments and then in the same breath say that despite the challenges, this is ongoing, that is ongoing … You have come to put your hands in my pocket and bag, taken my hard-earned money, and you turn around to say that you’ve done something brilliant. I find that very insulting.

“If you ask me to participate in ESLA bonds and ask me to participate in cocoa bonds and you give me a haircut on my savings and change the interest rate and period for payment of those things, and that is what enables you to drop the country’s debt to a certain point.

“If you turn around and tell me that despite all these challenges, public sector workers are being paid, Free SHS is on, this is on, but all those things are being done because of how reckless you were with your debt management,” he said.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Amin Adam, on Tuesday, August 6, apologized to Ghanaians for the difficulties they have faced due to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

He emphasized that the government never intended to impose hardships on the citizens.

“We decided to restructure our debts because it was one of the requirements by the IMF. We started with the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme. The DDEP was a very successful programme, achieving 95% participation. And on this note, I would like to appeal to the people of Ghana to forgive us, forgive us.

“It is never the intention of any government to impose hardships on its people. More so, the NPP government has demonstrated that we want to reduce the burden on the Ghanaian people,” Dr. Amin Adam said.

He continued, “It was a necessary, very important decision at the time, that if we had avoided it, our economy would not recover as it has recovered today. The decisions we made, and all the support you gave us during the DDEP, have contributed largely to the recovery our economy is seeing today.

“This is why I want to appeal to you to forgive us. But also to thank you on behalf of the president for the sacrifices, for the efforts that you all have made participating in the DDEP that saved our economy.”

EK

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