[ad_1]
Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon (UG) Ransford Yaw Gyampo has expressed disappointment in the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, over his latest call for support for the Governor of the Bank of Ghana.
In a publication on Thursday, September 14, Mr Ofori-Atta lauded Dr Ernest Yedu Addison for being “a competent professional of quiet courage”.
He expressed surprise how the Governor is “being pilloried for his good work”.
The Finance Minister, therefore, asked Ghanaians to rally behind the central bank, especially the resolve to build an ultra-modern headquarters in Accra.
“With respect to the BoG’s new headquarters, the evidence is clear that decisions to build had already been made long before these ‘losses’ occurred,” Mr Ofori-Atta wrote.
“It is important for us to support such a critical institution to modernize its operations and have a befitting office space for a country that hosts the AfCFTA and has a vision to become the financial services hub of the continent.”
But speaking on The Keypoints on TV3 on Saturday, September 16, Prof Gyampo said it is a misplaced priority to devote $250 million when the economy is not in good standing and for the minister to ask for support “is like we don’t think”.
“It tells you, look at us, we do not even have a priority and look at the Minister of Finance, who is going about begging labour, begging people that we don’t have resources and then you’ve been able to save something small to undertake a project and then you get into a challenge, a situation of economic miserisation and you come to plead that we should support the construction of such ostentatious project, this is what we should be talking about,” he fumed.
“This is what we should be talking about.”
He said what the Finance Minister should have been doing is to galvanise support from the people to back the government to to navigate the economy out of the doldrums.
“It is like we don’t even think. It is like a group of dump people that anybody can just get up and tell us whatever he or she likes.
“That we saved the money long before our losses and so now that we are experiencing challenges, we should go ahead.”
The matter of the $250-million headquarters for the central bank has provoked calls from the Minority for Dr Addison and his two deputies to resign.
The caucus has decided to hit the streets on Tuesday, October 3 to demonstrate after two failed attempts.
[ad_2]
Source link