General News of Monday, 4 July 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-07-04Oppong Nkrumah’s IMF's ‘meat and bones’ comment that has come back to bite him
Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah is the Minister of Information
Akufo-Addo directs Finance Minister to commence IMF engagements
Govt makes major U-turn on policy decision
Oppong-krumah explains government’s decision to go to the IMF
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has been caught in a humble pie situation as words he spoke in the past about Ghana going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have
Read full articlecome back to ‘haunt’ him.
In a 57-second video that was shared on Twitter, the minister, speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen, likened Ghana’s decision to go to the IMF under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama administration to eating meat until all that is left is the bone.
It is worth noting that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government, under which Oppong Nkrumah serves, recently made a major U-turn on its decision to explore the option of going to the IMF.
On countless occasions, government officials, including the president and the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, clearly indicated that the country would not go to the IMF even though it was undeniable that the country was facing a lot of economic challenges.
But in a sharp turnaround, a statement issued by the Ministry of Information said that this decision is to invite the Fund to support an economic programme put together by the government of Ghana.
“This follows a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgievs, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund,” the statement signed by Kojo Oppong Nkrumah explained.
However, in the resurfaced old video, the minister makes a mockery of the decision of the erstwhile government to go to the IMF with his analogy of eating meat or fish to the point that all that is left are the bones before exploring other options.
He was responding to a question based on a Moody’s report, where he was asked if he would not credit the administration that decided to go to the IMF on the back of that report.
“The administration that ate the meat (fish) until all that was left was the bone and went on to leave the country in the hands of the IMF, so what do we credit him with? But why do you have to, in the first place, eat the meat (fish) to the bone before you, and then when you are done, then you say that after I ate the meat (fish) till all that was left was the bone, I took you to the IMF, so clap for me? That’s ridiculous. Why would you take us to that point in the first place?” he quizzed.
See the video clip below:
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