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General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia has replied to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia over accusations that part of the current economic challenges was created by former President John Dramani Mahama.

The NDC scribe in a July 14, 2022 interview on Joy News said it is unacceptable that after six years in office Bawumia will be blaming a predecessor for running down the economy.

“John Mahama didn’t come back in 2020 or 2019 to do anything, so if after six years in office you are still blaming predecessors, it means that you have no clue as to why you went into the election to become the leader in the first place,” Asiedu Nketia said.

He described Bawumia’s refusal to admit his role in the economic ‘mess’ as akin to “a donkey who is crying that grass is blue.”

He joined calls for the Vice President – who is head of the government’s Economic Management Team, EMT – to resign his position because he had lost the trust of the populace.

“Every Ghanaian knows that he has lost credibility and if we were in a well-functioning society, people like that should be leaving their office.

“Because the things he has said… politics and democracy is about trust in our leadership. So, if you are running a system where you cannot even trust your leaders…then how are we expected to trust in the solutions that they are prescribing?” he stressed.

Bawumia in comments made at an event in Accra on July 14 explained some reasons for which Ghana returned to the International Monetary Fund despite earlier stance by the government against such a move.

Among the reasons he outlined was the role that the Mahama government played especially with the banking crisis.

“If you take out the fiscal impact of this quadruple whammy, Ghana will not be going to the IMF for support because our fiscal, debt and balance of payments outlook would be sustainable. Of the four factors, two (COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war) were external and the other two (the banking sector clean-up and the excess capacity payments) were the result of policies of the previous government,” Dr Mahamudu Bawumia clarified.