It’s ridiculous for NPP to seek equalization with IMF bailout – Sammy Gyamfi

The National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has lashed out at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over attempts to equalize and justify its decision to go for an IMF bailout.

He described as “pathetic and ridiculous” NPP communicators’ use of NDC’s IMF decision in 2015 to justify the recent Akufo-Addo decision to get the fund’s support to salvage Ghana’s ailing economy.

In a Facebook post, the NDC national executive said the conditions under which the John Mahama government went to the IMF were direr than the present factors that are driving the Akufo-Addo government to seek help.

“If the erstwhile NDC/Mahama administration had revenue inflows of over US$5 billion to manage “Dumsor”, (a crisis that was largely inherited) and the external shocks we suffered in 2015 like this NPP government had to manage COVID-19; If the erstwhile NDC/Mahama government had three (3) oil fields with an average daily production capacity of 170,000 barrels and an average international market price of $80 per barrel like the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has had in the last five (5) years; I dare say, that there would not have been any need for Ghana to have joined an IMF program in the year 2015,” he stated.

He said the Akufo-Addo government is better resourced, enjoying more revenues from the country’s oil exploration activities and borrowed enough from the international market than the NDC government under Mahama hence must be held to higher expectations.

According to him, the NPP wasted all the revenue resources on “consumption, profligacy and corruption” hence must not attempt to rationalize its decision to go to the IMF with the NDC’s move seven years ago.

“They are left with no other choice than to seek an IMF bailout now because they have wasted all the unprecedented revenues that have accrued to them on consumption, profligacy and corruption. Today, posterity has exposed their hypocrisy, deceitfulness, recklessness and emptiness,” he saiad.

The Ministry of Information on Friday, July 1, 2022, announced that President Akufo-Addo had given approval for Ghana to begin engagements with the IMF for a bailout. The ministry said the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta will be leading the negotiations with the IMF in the coming days.

The news has been received with mixed feelings. Sammy Gyamfi said, “the least they can do under the circumstances is to bury their arrogance, swallow their pride, accept responsibility for the mess they have created, accept that they have been useless in the manner they have mismanaged the economy and apologize for the excruciating hardships they continue to impose on the Ghanaian people.”

Read the full statement below: SAMMY GYAMFI WRITES ON HIS FACEBOOK WALL: The attempt by NPP communicators to equalize and rationalize the decision of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government to go for an IMF bailout is pathetic and ridiculous, to say the least. This is particularly so given the kind of negative commentary that President Akufo-Addo, his Vice, Alhaji Bawumia and other leading figures of the NPP have made about IMF programs in time past.

If the erstwhile NDC/Mahama administration had revenue inflows of over US$5 billion to manage “Dumsor”, (a crises that was largely inherited) and the external shocks we suffered in 2015 like this NPP government had to manage COVID-19; If the erstwhile NDC/Mahama government had three (3) oil fields with an average daily production capacity of 170,000 barrels and an average international market price of $80 per barrel like the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has had in the last five (5) years; I dare say, that there would not have been any need for Ghana to have joined an IMF program in the year 2015.

It is indisputable that the current Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-NPP government is the most resourced government in Ghana's history. They have had access to more oil revenues, tax revenues and borrowed funds than any government in history. In all, they have had access to over GHS500 billion in total revenue, as compared to the about GHS200 billion that accrued to the NDC/Mahama government.

They are left with no other choice than to seek an IMF bailout now because they have wasted all the unprecedented revenues that have accrued to them on consumption, profligacy and corruption. Today, posterity has exposed their hypocrisy, deceitfulness, recklessness and emptiness. The least they can do under the circumstances is to bury their arrogance, swallow their pride, accept responsibility for the mess they have created, accept that they have been useless in the manner they have mismanaged the economy and apologize for the excruciating hardships they continue to impose on the Ghanaian people.

To continue in this vainglorious attempt to defend their new low will only expand the bottomless pit they have plunged themselves into. Leadership that accepts responsibility and shows sensitivity to the plight of the people is what Ghanaians yearn for in a time like this and not the puffed-up arrogance and intransigence this government continues to display.

Sammy Gyamfi Esq. National Communications Officer, NDC

—citinewsroom