A Professor at the University of Ghana Business School, Godfred Bokpin, has reiterated that he sees leadership in how the economy is being managed currently.
To him, the current administration has enough room to take credit for the rebound of the economy.
“The current administration has ample room to take credit for the economy,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, July 26. “The past administration did not listen,” he added.
“If the previous management of the central bank had 40 per cent of the leadership that the current ones are showing now, the economic situation would have been different,” he added.
Prof Bokpin further commended the current government for the level of fiscal cuts witnessed.
“We haven’t seen anything like this in our history,” he said.
Speaking on the same programme, a Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, said that the time has come for the Mahama administration to own the economy and stop blaming the previous government.
He says they can no longer blame the past administration because Ghanaians expect them to implement their policies.
“This economy is now Mahama’s, they should stop blaming the past government,” Dr Zaato said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, July 26.
He further accused the Mahama administration of inconsistency.
He said that, whereas the current managers of the economy admit to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the previous government set a good foundation for an economic recovery, they also paint a different picture when they speak to Ghanaians, claiming Ghana was a crime scene.
“We have made it look like when the economy was handed over, it was bad and there was nothing good about it, but somehow we are seeing figures today that contradict the current government on what they say.
“They made it look like they inherited a crime scene, but when they meet the IMF, they praise the former government. This doesn’t show consistency,” he said.
His comments come at a time when the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, said that at the time the Mahama administration took over governance on January 7, the economy was struggling.
He stated that they inherited a weak financial sector with significant non-performing loans. Additionally, he noted that they inherited a derailing IMF programme.
“Indeed, as President Mahama said, the whole of Ghana was a crime scene,” he remarked during the mid-year budget presentation.
Dr. Ato Forson accused the previous Akufo-Addo administration of incompetence in managing the economy.
He also blamed the central bank under the Akufo-Addo government for driving inflation to unprecedented levels.
In contrast to the previous administration, he said President Mahama has chosen the path of structural reforms and transformation.
“We have made significant progress; the signs of recovery are visible,” he added.
