You were only addicted to loans; you didn’t help Ghana in any way — Atik Mohammed to Ken Ofori-Atta

Atik Mohamed [left] and Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta

Atik Mohammed has criticized former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, blaming him for Ghana's severe indebtedness.

Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Atik accused Ofori-Atta of excessive borrowing, which led to the nation's financial crisis.

"I keep saying that Ken Ofori-Atta didn't help Ghana. He collected the monies, at a point he became a loan addict," he asserted.

Atik explained that due to Ofori-Atta's unrepentant borrowing, Ghana reached a point where it could not repay its loans, resulting in the imposition of haircuts.

He criticized the government's debt restructuring program, stating, "we should not be excited that we have to go for a relief arrangement with our official creditors because we could have avoided this."

Expressing his frustration, Atik remarked, "What saddens me is that the person who plunged us into such a ditch, upon seeing the difficulties, left his job to become an international Finance Minister. I really would have expected that he would stay on and clean his own mess."

Ghana recently reached an agreement in principle with two bondholder groups to restructure approximately $13 billion of international debt, marking a significant step in the country's economic recovery under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal.

The agreement includes a 37 percent haircut on Eurobond holders, amounting to $4.7 billion, along with delayed repayments.

This represents the third and final step in the country's external debt restructuring negotiations.

Despite his criticism, Atik expressed relief that "finally the negotiations have paid off."