A year ago
In order to get the "buy-in" of all Ghanaians, the Minority Chief Whip, Governor Kwame Agbodza, has encouraged the government to exhibit openness and transparency in the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He claimed that the present covert manner in which the Vice President and the Minister of Finance were managing the IMF negotiations had only served to keep many Ghanaians in the dark and keep them ignorant of what was happening.
"As we speak, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Ken Ofori-Atta are the only parties who understand the terms of their negotiations. To save them as part of the debt restructuring that people are fighting, all they want to do is determine that Ghanaians pay a set amount of money from their own private resources.
Speaking to the media on Ghana's negotiations with the IMF at Parliament House, Mr. Agbodza said there were still important aspects of the negotiations that Ghanaians were unaware of, which was causing "a tremendous amount of anxiety."
We cannot keep waiting for Dr. Bawumia and Ken Ofori-Atta to inform us of what is happening whenever they choose, he added. "I advise them to seek help as there are those inside and outside the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who can help," he said.
Putting a stop to major initiatives
Mr. Agboza, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), "said he was aware of a series of meetings that had taken place involving "closed group of NPP people close to President Akufo-Addo, in which a decision had allegedly been made to suspend or cancel about 60 capital projects throughout the country.
Despite the fact that the government had already paid some of the developers or contractors between 15% and 20% mobilisation, he claimed that was the case.
The road linking the Tema roundabout, Akosombo, and the La General Hospital, the Shama Interchange, and other projects were cited by Mr. Agbodza, who is also the ranking member of the Parliament's Roads and Transport Committee.
The government is unable to order these foreign corporations to proceed since the Finance Minister ordered that all of these projects must be postponed. As a result, they are sitting in their offices.
Consequently, he remarked, "We are likely losing value since they have received money for mobilisation, set up camp, and are in the office drinking tea, but you cannot blame them."
Prevent job losses
Financers, developers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and even regular employees who deal with these businesses are presently unclear if they would lose their jobs permanently due to this lack of understanding, he added.
According to the MP, some of the foreign businesses had already begun firing employees.
If they don't, Ghanaians will have to call Dr. Bawumia and Ken Ofori-Atta to order because we can't keep waiting for them to inform us when they want. There are individuals both inside and outside the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who can help.
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