Justice Sophia Akuffo, a former Chief Justice has slammed the handling of the Ghanaian economy by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
She said the Minister has failed in his duty to protect the national coffers.
In an exclusive interview with Accra based Joy TV, the former Supreme Court Justice said Ken Ofori-Atta has been a disappointment.
“All I know is that you were going to protect the national coffers, they are now empty. It has been very disappointing.
“If it were somebody else, I will still feel the same. The person who was given the responsibility to manage the economy, I don’t think he has done a good job.”
There have been calls from various quarters including by members of the governing NPP for the Finance Minister to be sacked.
President Akufo-Addo has equally been urged to cut down on the size of government and replace some ministers. The former Chief Justice shares this concern as well.
“I think so, there are many areas where there has not been much to show for. Somebody else should be asked to try it. And then there are some ministries that need to go back to their former partners.
“There are some ministries that were split up. Transport (Ministry) included air, land, sea and whatever. But now we have taken everything apart. Minister of this, minister of that, deputy minister of this and that”.
Earlier today, rating agency Fitch downgraded Ghana’s credit worthiness to further junk status.
In its latest report on Ghana, it said “Fitch Ratings downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Local Currency (LC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Restricted Default (RD) from ‘C’.”
It attributed the downgrade to the decision by government to embark on the debt exchange programme and the recent default on local bonds that matured on February 6, 2023 and another one which is due for payment this week.
“The downgrade of Ghana’s local-currency denominated debt follows the completion of a domestic debt exchange offer by the Republic of Ghana. This transaction is an element of the recovery programme for which the government is seeking the support of the International Monetary Fund for a 3-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about $3 billion”.
Fitch also affirmed Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign Currency (FC) IDR at ‘C’, saying, “Fitch typically does not assign Rating Outlooks to sovereigns with a rating of ‘CCC+’ or below”
