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The Minority in Parliament has asked Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to resign as the head of the Economic Management team.

They have also called on President Akufo Addo to “dissolve the economic management team because they have not lived up to expectation...their performance has been abysmal”.

The Minority expressed these sentiments at a press conference held on Friday.

Precarious Economic Situation

There appears to be no end in sight to the precarious economic situation in the country at the moment.

The Ghanaian economy is presently facing a serious crisis brought on to a large extent by COVID-19 and recent geopolitical developments. A domestic policy credibility deficit, arising in part from the budget stalemate in Parliament over the Electronic Transaction Levy and a rising debt level, has compounded the crisis.

Subsequently, the crisis has led to the downgrading of Ghana by credit rating agencies, which has restricted access to international bond markets, increased borrowing costs and fuelled disinvestments from the money and capital markets, causing a sharp depreciation in the cedi.

Again, rising commodity prices across the world have also fuelled domestic inflation.

Fuel Rise & Cedi Fall

This year, fuel prices have been adjusted upwards three times and it is only the third month since the year begun.

On Wednesday, March 16 2022, the Institute of Energy Security reported a possible and imminent 5% increment in fuel prices.

Exacerbating the problem is how the Ghana Cedi has been left chasing the shadows of some major foreign trading currencies after falling into an unprecedented depreciation against particularly the United States dollar.

Analysis of the relevant data shows it has seen its worst performance in the past seven years.

The situation of the dollar also makes it difficult not only for Ghana’s import dependent economy to thrive, but the country’s debt levels will continue to soar as it will need more dollars to settle them.

Bawumia Comatose

Addressing the media, John Jinapor, Member of Parliament for Yapei-Kusawgu, questioned the ‘loud silence’ of the Vice-President, most especially on economic issues saying “he has gone comatose; he is nowhere to be found.”

"Indeed the failure of this govt is legendary, the failure of this government is unprecedented...we believe that something must be done," he added.

Options

Proferring solutions to what can be done to ameliorate the situation and keep the currency stable, the Minority believes pragmatic steps must be taken to "cushion Ghanaians", and that according to them, include desisting from "profligate and ostentatious expenditure".

Apart from that government must "take a critical look at the Tema Oil refinery to refine our domestic crude oil".