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Minister of Finance Seth Terkper did not mince words on Wednesday, December 2 in responding to an address by the Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on the 2016 budget statement, describing the assertions of the economist as “a lie”.

Dr Bawumia had stated, inter alia, that government has committed to lay off workers after the 2017 elections under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

This he said is contained in Paragraph 65 of the agreement document of the three-year deal.

Dr Bawumia, therefore, asked for maximum transparency from government and IMF in implementing the rationalization programme, a plan about which is expected to be ready this month.

But speaking on Joy FM, Mr Terkper said there was nowhere in the memorandum of understanding between government and IMF that explicitly stated that public sector workers will be laid off.

He explained that the rationalization programme captured in Paragraph 65 of the agreement will be cross-sectional and will even affect subvented agencies like the universities.

“We are implementing it with all employees on the public sector payroll.”