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By Francis Ntow\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Accra, Nov 6, GNA \u2013 A former Deputy Attorney-General, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, has asked Ghanaians to keep faith in the Government to lessen the economic hardship they are experiencing.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said just like other countries, Ghana was going through a period of hardship due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and other internal economic factors.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the former Member of Parliament for Tempane, in the Upper East Region, cautioned against commentaries that would dampen investor confidence and said, \u201clet\u2019s not create the impression that we\u2019re in a period of Apocalypse\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t take care, we\u2019re going to continue to hammer certain points and create market distortions then the price increases would continue to be taken advantage of by traders and all of us will be in it,\u201d Mr Kpemka said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said this during a discussion on the current state of the economy on a local TV station on Saturday.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he was confident that the President\u2019s 12-points policy agenda outlined during his address on the economy on October 30, would make the economy \u201cget back on its toes and take off to the land of glory\u201d. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
The former Legislature, therefore, encouraged all Ghanaians to give their support to the President, and said: \u201cI\u2019ve not heard the president say that our cups are flowing with milk and honey\u201d. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a country, what we\u2019re supposed to be doing now is to reflect on our past, reflect on our present and chart a good path in the future to rebuild our economy to become the buoyant one that we want it to be as it started in the past,\u201d Mr Kpemka said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Smart Sarpong, a Political Scientist, asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to \u201ctake complete responsibility [of the current economic difficulty] and help save the situation. \u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said it had become necessary for the President to make strategic changes in the team handling the economy, including Ministers, noting that such a move would \u201cinspire some additional hope in the people\u201d. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, called for details of the economic policies and programme solutions the President outlined to be made public to inspire confidence.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe President addressed us to give us hope, but he may not be able to give us the details in that presentation. The expectation is that after the President\u2019s presentation, his Ministers should be giving us detailed information about what the President meant, instead of telling us that it would be in the 2023 budget,\u201d he said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
President Akufo-Addo in his address last Sunday said the Government would among others, restore macroeconomic stability in about six months with a focus on debt sustainability to promote inclusive growth and protect the poor.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
That would be done through the country\u2019s homegrown economic programme with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan support, and a further 30 per cent cut in salaries of political office holders. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
The President also said there would be a review of the standards needed for imports into the country and ensure that enough local production of rice, poultry, vegetable oil, toothpicks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water, and ceramic tiles was prioritised. \u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
GNA\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n