In light of the nation's economic collapse, former President John Dramani Mahama has encouraged his successor, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to fire Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
At the official opening of Think Progress Ghana in Accra today, Thursday, 30 June 2022, Mr. Mahama gave a speech on the health of the Ghanaian economy and painted a bleak image of the situation.
If debts on the accounts of some SPVs and statutory funds, which this administration tries to omit, are taken into account, he said the state debt had surpassed GHS400 billion.
This, according to Mr. Mahama, translates into a debt to GDP ratio of above 80%, which is far higher than the red line of 70% at which lower middle-income nations are deemed to be in debt crisis.
He claimed that several international financial organisations continue to include Ghana among the nations that are most likely to follow Sri Lanka's example and stop repaying their debt.
He lamented, "We still have the lowest credit ratings in our country's over 20-year rating history, and we're completely locked out of the international capital market.
Offering remedies to Ghana's economic problems, Mr. Mahama stated that before Ghana becomes like Sri Lanka, which has descended into unthinkable economic and social catastrophes, President Akufo-Addo must make the huge and extremely crucial decision and start the process to restructure the country's debt.
He also advocated for an end to the unchecked and unsustainable borrowing.
"While our economy teeters on the edge, we can no longer afford to delay and fuss. That will have too severe of an effect to understand," he continued.
"In the meanwhile, the President would be wise to employ certain tools from the presidential toolkit in situations like these. The previous President said, "Fire your finance minister, carry out a big shake-up of Government to remove the many dead woods who have turned ministries into personal fiefdoms, and then gather with the brightest minds our country must design a thorough recovery plan for our economy."