Host of Maakye on Onua TV/FM, Blessed Godsbrain Smart is cautioning Ghana against the Chinese government should the former default in defraying its debts.
He has listed four state parastatals China will likely confiscate should Ghana fail to pay her debts.
According to Captain Smart, just as they did to Uganda, Zambia and Sri Lanka, China will take over the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport, the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Tema Harbour.
Ghana owes a chunk of her debts to China. As a conditionality to qualify for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), her debt needs to be restructured which called for the infamous Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
Ghana asked Germany, a member of the Paris Club to plead to China on her behalf for a bilateral debt talk. But China pulled out of the negotiations.
Meanwhile, the President, during his meeting with the Diplomatic Corps at Peduase said he was hopeful of Ghana finalising agreement with the Fund by end of March 2023.
The President says he is confident of the feat due to the cooperation of members of the Paris club and more specifically China.
According to him, the agreement will be climaxed to set Ghana back on the route to economic recovery, hoping Ghana’s friends will weigh in with words of support to hasten the process.
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Addressing members of the Diplomatic Corps at the 2023 presentation of Diplomatic Greetings at the Peduase Lodge Tuesday, February 28, 2023, President Akufo-Addo said:
“Just as we managed to achieve a Staff Level Agreement with the Fund in record time in December last year, whose terms were systematically fulfilling including the difficulty that ultimately highly successful process of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
“I’m confident with the cooperation we are receiving from members of the Paris Club, and the Peoples’ Republic of China which has sent a delegation from China’s Exim bank to Accra over the weekend to meet with officials of the ministry of Finance, we shall be able to go to the Board of the Fund to conclude finally the agreement by the end of March.
“This will set the stage for the strong recovery of Ghana’s economy. We’ll hope that all Ghana’s friends would weigh in with words of support at the Fund,” he was confident.
But during his speech, the German Ambassador indicated they will only help when the big elephant in the room takes the lead.
“We are ready to take our part when others are ready to do that, so all major creditors must be ready to help Ghana. The Big elephant in the room is China. China is the largest creditor to Ghana and so far [China] is not supportive of setting up of a creditors’ committee, where the creditors will sit down and agree on an aid package for Ghana.”
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By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com
