The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has dispelled reports that President John Mahama has lost confidence in him, hence, the decision to make former Finance Minister, Kwesi Botchwey, lead Ghana�s negotiation team with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ghana turned to the IMF for assistance after the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy met on August 1 to reflect on the range of issues affecting the country�s economy.
Under Seth Terkper�s guidance as Finance Minister, the country has seen significant depreciation of the Cedi, high inflation rate, huge budget deficit, among other major macro-economic challenges.
Some of the members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) have even advocated for the President to dismiss Mr. Terkper because according to them, his economic management skills are making the government unpopular, a situation which could cause the party to lose the 2016 elections.
Some political watchers say this could be the possible reason why the President chose Mr. Botchwey to lead Ghana�s team in the discussions with the IMF.
But Seth Tekper in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, stated that he has not been sidelined by the President adding that Ghana is meeting with the IMF as a team therefore, it is unwarranted for people to misconstrue Botchwey�s position as the leader.
�I see this more as a team effort. It doesn�t mean I will be off the negotiation team. I still need my technical team in the discussion,� he said.
He recalled that Botchwey had earlier led negotiations between Ghana and the United States of America for the Millennium Challenge Account II.
This, he said did not reduce the role of Energy Minister, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah.
He added that Ghana will go into negotiation with the IMF with the country�s home-grown solutions to make a case for better conditions.
The team from the IMF is expected in Ghana on Tuesday to begin negotiations for a programme expected to get Ghana out of its current economic challenges.
The negotiated programme is expected to kick-start in November this year.
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