Although he agrees with the notion that the Finance Minister should resign, he advises Ghanaians not to have too high of expectations.
He contends that it is erroneous for anyone to believe that Mr. Ken Ofori-ouster Atta’s will improve Ghana’s economy.
Speaking to host Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” discussion programme, Prof. Joseph Osafo wished the Finance Minister would, after the public hearing on the censure motion filed against him by the Minority in Parliament, “announce to Ghanaians that he has resigned” in the interest of the nation and his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
However, the Senior Psychologist at the University of Ghana emphasized that “one thing that we need to be minded with is that removing Ken doesn’t mean our economy has become better”.
“The expectations that when Ken is gone, then it will be better may not be so but in the interest of the public good, I would feel that when my brother is done with his responses and he takes the backstage, it is not bad at all,” he added.
Also, giving his take on the posture of President Nana Addo on the calls for Ken Ofori-Atta’s dismissal, Prof. Osafo believed the President’s refusal to remove him even upon the request by the Majority Caucus in Parliament may be because he (President Nana Addo) wants fair justice.
He stated that the President is an ardent believer in rule of law, therefore he may have refused to sack the Minister because he wants him to redeem himself from the allegations levelled against him.
Nonetheless, Prof. Joseph Osafo strongly believes the President should let the Finance Minister go.
“I’ve seen that that unflinching attitude for law’ by the President but “when it gets to a point, it can kill spontaneity,” he said.
According to him, a large chunk of the country’s imports is food-related products and commodities, making it necessary to concentrate on local food production for starters.
Speaking on the Eye on Port program, Mr. Afful who is the Executive Director of the APN Group, said Ghana as a country can look within its borders for the production of food with the support of economic policies that promote local production and exports while discouraging imports.
He went on further to say that if Ghana cannot quickly produce to cater for local demand, the nation could take advantage of the benefits AfCFTA presents.
“At the end of the day, we can try with some of the commodities like rice. We do not need to look far beyond Africa. We can look within the AfCFTA member states and find out who can give us a comparative advantage then we can trade with them. The good news is that with the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) you do not need the dollar or forex, you can trade in your own local currency and the recipient receives it in his or her local currency,” he averred.
He said the Ghana government can commence by giving local industries stimulus packages to encourage local production of selected commodities.
He likened this proposal to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic where “in the United States for example where they had a national policy where companies with the productive capacity where called upon to temporarily abandon production of their core products and begin production of COVID-support products and they were supported heavily for this. We can take that approach. Can we examine the supply chain right from the farms and support these industries to produce for domestic consumption and export?”
He emphasized that it is no brainer that, overcapacity in selected food commodities will positively affect the price of goods on the market and the plight of the ordinary consumer will be alleviated.
Mr. Louis Yaw Afful said this while touching on President Nana Addo’s statement on the government’s intention to review the standards required for imports into the country.
The President of the Republic during his address to the public on the national economic crisis stated that “in May 2023, that is six (6) months from now, review the standards for imports into the country”.
Nana Akufo Addo said Ghana, “as a matter of urgent national security, will reduce our dependence on imported goods.”
The President hinted at rice, poultry, vegetable oil, toothpicks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water and ceramic tiles as focus products.
According to the Executive Director of the APN Group, Louis Yaw Afful, the implementation process for this review should begin immediately.
“The ministries and agencies under the President, by the time he had finished speaking, should be able to have a plan in place that aligns with what he said. They should have an inter-ministerial approach to dealing with this,” he expressed.
He says a similar inter-ministerial, inter-agency approach was adopted during the rollout of the National AfCFTA policy and Action Plan which he lauded.
Following President Nana Addo’s speech on Sunday, October 30, 2022, about the state of the economy at the moment and the steps his administration is taking to address the economic difficulties, Nana Akomea made this call.
Sika Mpɛ Dede
Speaking to the nation, the President said; “Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down.”
“The recent turbulence on the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market. An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further.
“All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, and avoiding speculation. Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is. To those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons.”
1) enhanced supervisory action by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to flush out illegal operators, as well as ensuring that those permitted to operate legally abide by the market rules. Already some forex bureaus have had their licenses revoked, and this exercise will continue until complete order is restored in the sector;
2) Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand;
3) the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilized manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in;
4) Government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and
5) the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme.”
President Has Spoken, It’s Time To Act
Speaking in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ show, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah called on the State authorities not to let the President’s orders be in vain.
“The President cannot go and stand at Airport Police station to arrest those selling money on the black market when he has given this direction and the Governor is there, the IGP and the Police officers are at the Airport Police station this morning. So, action must follow . . . and you see if we all decide to dump everything on the President as the only source of our interest and our criticisms, people will go scot free . . . We have to ensure action happens but it is the collective effort and pressure on all the agency Heads to get the action happening,” he stated.
No Arrests
But Nana Akomea disagrees with the idea that the black market and forex operators should be apprehended as a solution to fixing the forex markets.
Making his submissions on ‘Kokrokoo’, he called for amicable resolution between the authorities and the forex operators.
“You must sit with them to find out their ways. Why doesn’t the Bank of Ghana have dollar but some are at Cow Lane? You have to ask yourself that question and before you can find answers, you must sit with these people,” he said.