<<Print>>

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has called on the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, to be consistent and come clean on the presentation of the state of the economy to Ghanaians. According to the Minority, information available to them shows that Dr Duffuor, in a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), acknowledged the steady economic growth achieved by the NPP Government. However, the Minister and his government, have been consistently providing falsehood and half-truths when speaking to Ghanaians. The Minority Caucus made these reservations at a press conference held in Accra, and chaired by Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the Minority Leader. Later in an interview with PEACEFM NEWS, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, the Former Deputy Minister of Finance, lamented the NDC�s pursuant of an agenda to demonize the NPP. He said in spite of obvious facts about the TOR Debt Recovery Tax (DRT), the NDC has been continuously accusing the NPP of diverting the TOR DRT. �Regarding the TOR Debt Recovery Levy, I explained to them that TOR management wrote to the transition that they were given over 450million cedis by the Ministry of Finance, that�s number one. Number two, these Eurobond that we (NPP) did, the Bank of Ghana, as of April paid an amount of 245million cedis, directly from the Bank of Ghana. By the end of June, there should another payment of 190million by the Bank of Ghana, in servicing the TOR debt. When these figures are added up, it is significant� so upon what basis is the NDC saying they don�t know what the money was used for,� he queried. Dr Akoto questioned the rationale by the NDC government in setting up another Committee to address the TOR debt saying �it is needless�. �They�ve known all these things about TOR since January, why wait till now to set up a committee�if there�s a crisis at TOR they should let us know. When Kufuor faced similar scenarios, he sought help from Nigeria. But this gov�t has been to Libya, Venezuela and Nigeria, yet no oil deal has been formalized�they shouldn�t allow TOR to collapse,� he warned.