Former President John Mahama has taken a jab at Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia over the depreciation of the cedi.
Speaking at the launch of the Tertiary Education Institution Network App held at the University of Professional Studies, Mr. Mahama said Ghana was currently facing hardship “on a scale never witnessed in the 30-year history of our Fourth Republic.”
“General incompetence, corruption, and waste of scarce resources have combined to make life simply unbearable for the generality of Ghanaians,” he said.
The former president cited inflation, rising fuel prices, and the depreciation of the cedi as key challenges facing Ghanaians.
After Vice President Bawumia famously said the Akufo-Addo administration had arrested the depreciation of the cedi, Mr. Mahama contended that “the dollar has rather arrested him.”
“So we are looking for him. We can’t find him. I asked IGP if he had the key so that we could find where our Vice President was, and he said he doesn’t have it and doesn’t know his whereabouts,” Mr. Mahama said.
According to the Information Ministry, the President has approved some moves aimed at mitigating the depreciation of the Cedi, ensuring expenditure discipline, and providing relief in the face of global fuel price hikes and inflation as well as ensuring that priority programs meant to grow the economy are protected.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts by government to improve the economy, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has revealed that all 16 flagship programmes of government will soon be reviewed to ensure their objectives are well achieved.
According to him, it is one of the decisions taken during the three-day cabinet retreat at the Peduase Lodge in the Eastern Region to mitigate the economic difficulties in the country.
“All the 16 flagship programmes are up to be looked at. The President has directed that the flagship programmes should be protected and fully implemented to ensure that the impact is achieved. However, he wants it done within the constraints of item number two, which is the fiscal framework we are working with.
“If based on the caps that we are working with we will have to rescope a particular flagship programme, we will do it and see how much we can achieve. So all the 16 are up for discussion; none is off-limit.
Only that the President has laid down the red line that we will not compromise on the fiscal consolidation agenda because our real problem over the years has been a year-on-year deficit going out of hand,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Monday.
Ken Ofori Atta is expected to brief Ghanaians on measures the government seeks to implement to address current economic challenges later this week