'But for IMF, economy would have collapsed under you' – Gabby to Mahama

A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko, has said the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has no ideas on how to grow the economy.

He said when Mr. Mahama was in office as President of Ghana, he needed support from external bodies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rescue the economy from failing, following his poor handling of it.

The Mahama administration went to the Bretton Woods institution for a bailout in 2015.

The IMF bailout came along with stringent conditions such as job cuts in the public service in order to reduce the wage bill, and also placed a cap on the amount of loans Ghana could contract.

Mr. Mahama, who is seeking a return to the presidency in the December 7 2020 elections, has promised to grow the economy if he is voted for.

He has told Ghanaians that the economy under the Akufo-Addo administration is currently on life support in the intensive care unit (ICU.)

“They said the economy has been the best that we have ever had since independence,” Mahama recounted.

“We have not been able to survive even one month [of coronavirus],” the ex-president jabbed, adding “if we didn’t run to the IMF for the $1billion rapid credit facility, it is possible that in the next two months probably, salaries would not have been paid.”

The economy “is on ventilators and it needs thinking to rescue it from the ICU,” he added.

But in a tweet, Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko said: “A campaign message must be believable. Don’t promise to do something voters know you are not capable of doing. You called for external hands to rescue the economy for you when you were in office. Now, you say you are on a “rescue mission” and voters must believe you? Be serious!"