�Terkper Is Blameless�

New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for New Juaben South in the Eastern region, Dr. Mark Asibey-Yeboah, said, �the call for the dismissal of Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Seth Terkper, is needless�. According to him, the minister of finance cannot be blamed for the �economic mess created in 2012 just to win political power�. Some members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) are mounting pressure on President John Mahama to sack Seth Terkper. They have argued that the reforms and austerity measures being introduced by the finance minister has worsened the already deteriorating socio-economic conditions in the country. The Central Regional Director of Communication of the NDC, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, who is leader of the campaign, has branded Seth Terkper the �Judas� in NDC, whom he claimed is speeding the governing party back into opposition. But on Accra-based Asempa FM�s Ekosii Sen programme, Dr. Asibey-Yeboah said the NDC government wants to make Seth Terkper the scapegoat to cover up the mess created by President John Mahama and Vice- President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. He explained that President Mahama, then vice president and Chairman of the Economic Management Team and then Governor, Amissah-Arthur, supervised the profligate spending during the 2012 electioneering campaign. The New Juaben South MP stressed that the current economic woes of the country, is the rippling effect of the fiscal indiscipline of the Mahama-led administration in 2012. He indicated that Seth Terkper cannot take the flak alone, when the supposed economists in government are equally to be blamed for the problem. Dr. Asibey-Yeboah also an economist by profession stated unequivocally that those in charge of the monetary and fiscal policies lack the expertise to implement workable strategies to resuscitate the economy. �If people are saying Seth Terkper should be sacked, then the others like the Chairman of the Economic Management Team, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, should be changed, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Wampah and the president�s economic advisor, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson should also be sacked�, he pointed out. Dr. Asibey-Yeboah said though President Mahama reserves the right to hire and fire, �without the right economic policies, regardless of whom he appoints, the economy will crumble�.