Governance expert and President of IMANI Africa policy think tank, Franklin Cudjoe, has criticised President Akufo-Addo for reassigning the former finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta. Franklin Cudjoe expressed similar sentiments espoused by Ghanaian economist Kwame Pianim. Mr Pianim wondered which kind of economy Ken Ofori-Atta was going to advise on, saying, “We don’t have an economy, so what is he going to advise on?”
Mr Cudjoe, in an interview with Alfred Ocansey, host of Ghana Tonight, on Monday, February 26, asked, amongst other things, “What really is he [Ken Ofori-Atta] going to advise on?”. “I don’t see the point about which economy he is going to advise on…because we have been shut off from going to the [international] market anytime soon. The remaining 10 months of the president’s administration…
The President of IMANI Africa also cast doubt on the positive impact of Mr Ofori-Atta’s role in the growth of the economy, the way I see it, I think it is purely an egoistic position just to make it look like Ken really was not gone,” he stated. The President of IMANI Africa also cast doubt on the positive impact of Mr Ofori-Atta’s role in the growth of the economy, stating, “I don’t know what value that adds to the economy except maybe personal gratification”.
Meanwhile, the Information Minister-designate, in an interview with TV3’s Beatrice Adu, justified the government’s resolve to reassign Mr Ofori-Atta barely 24 hours after his much-anticipated dismissal. She maintained that the former finance minister’s capacity to provide advice in the financial sector is never in doubt.
“His capacity to guide or to advise in the financial sector is not lost just because he is no longer Finance Minister. If his skills are required elsewhere and the President feels he can help us with negotiations or can advise, I don’t think there should be a big problem about that,” said Ms Abubakar.
Economist Kwame Pianim differs from Ms Abubakar
Mr Pianim, speaking on the development, noted that “Ken Ofori-Atta going is good for the optics. But the person who led us into the financial and economic crisis that we are in—we haven’t been here before. There has never been a time where Ghana has not been able to pay its bills and we are not going to start paying them until 2025 and this is the same guy who gets us kicked out of the Eurobond market, how can he be an envoy? “I think Nana [President Akufo-Addo] knows that the international community is not that gullible so you don’t send him there. We don’t have an economy now, so what is he going to advise on?” Mr Pianim added.
