Former Spokesperson for Finance in the erstwhile Kufuor administration, Kweku Kwarteng, has strongly advised Deputy Finance Minister, Fifi Kwetey to read wide and get his facts right before attempting to give Ghanaians a lecture in economic management.
Mr Kwarteng’s remarks follows on the heels of claims by the Deputy Finance Minister that the previous government irresponsibly misapplied the $750m Eurobond loan.
The money was to be used in only the energy, road and railway sectors of the country. But the erstwhile Kufuor administration is accused of squandering the $750 million it raised after it issued Ghana’s first Eurobond in 2007 approved by Parliament.
Mr. Kwetey maintains the money was never utilized for any of these sectors, proving his point with the assertion that the erstwhile NPP government cannot point to any single structure in the country as a beneficiary of the Eurobonds.
Speaking to these assertions on Peace FM morning show, Kokrokoo, Kweku Kwarteng, who is also the NPP’s Parliamentary aspirant for the Obuasi Constituency seat, said he finds it hard to come to terms with the lies being spew by the Deputy Minister.
“He needs to really read wide because he does not know what exactly he is talking about. You can’t head a Ministry and not read and but only spew falsehood as if he is not even in the country…We (NPP) had to expand our economy in terms of infrastructure; not only by constructing roads….Anyone who says the NPP simply went in for these funds to construct roads and failed to utilize it efficiently is being economical with the truth….government (NDC) cannot rule this country with propaganda,” he said.
Mr Fifi Kwetey had earlier sought to explain what he meant when he said the NDC government, not wanting the country to be a laughing-stock in the eyes of the world, was not totally upfront in a June 2009 document it sent to the World Bank about how the $750m Eurobond was utilized.
According to him, the NDC did not lie to the World Bank, but only talked in generality and not go into the specifics about how the NPP used the funds to procure locomotives (at the time the railway tracks were not existent), buy prepaid meters and AGC shares, and also used part of the money to pay salaries of workers; which to him was a complete ridicule to the country.
But Kweku Kwarteng argues that the Deputy Finance Minister needs to get off his high horse of propaganda and stick to the facts pointing out that at the time the NDC took over in January 2009, $155 million of the Eurobond funds were still lodged at the Bank of Ghana to be spent.
According to him, there is empirical evidence to show that proceeds from the $750 Eurobond loan were allocated primarily to support public investments in the energy sector according to the following distribution: US$286 million for investments by the Volta River Authority (VRA); US$134 million for investments by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG); US$54 million for the investment in the Bui Dam; US$ 31 million for the Government’s equity investment in the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP); among others.
“Ghana is not about NPP and NDC. He should have explained or pointed out the things NPP did that are not good and what government is doing to correct it. But he was speaking like NPP is having a football match with NDC. I can see that he does not understand some of the issues that he is even talking about. I will plead with him to take his time and get himself educated by reading wide…,” he admonished.