'Will a reshuffle make the cedi stronger?' – Gabby asks

Former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute and a leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko says a reshuffle will not make Ghana’s cedi stronger than the dollar.

There have numerous calls on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to change the Finance Minister following the country’s current economic crisis.

In July, New Patriotic Party (NPP) pressure group, The Royal Patriots, urged President Akufo-Addo to cause a reshuffle in his government and go a step further to relieve some appointees of their portfolios.

The group said it was a common observation that some appointees of government were sleeping on the job and it had become the concern of most political watchers, and even the ordinary man on the street. According to the Royal Patriots, “Most of these appointees, by their actions and inactions, believe that they are untouchable.”

“These factors include but not limited to non linkages of government programmes, unstable currency, domination of our productive sectors by foreigners, our people’s penchant desire for foreign made goods, which are not being regulated or tackled by the government and most importantly, non-performance of some government appointees.” The group said in a statement.

In a latest development, the NPP Kingpin said the people calling for the reshuffle are behaving as if a reshuffle will suddenly end the war in Ukraine and bring down Ghana’s inflation.

“It is as if a reshuffle will suddenly end the war in Ukraine, bring down inflation and make the cedi stronger than the dollar,” Gabby Otchere-Darko said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta says he will not resign.

“It is almost like telling a father to resign from his children because he is changed his mind. There are times that decisions have to be made for the survival of a country and therefore if circumstances such as COVID or the Ukraine war occur which are not typical, it does change the environment, and sensible people will change their minds,” Ofori-Atta said in an interview.