Bawumia Should Resign: Economist Says Vice President Should Step Down If He Lacks Influence To Run Economy

• Professor Godfred Alufar Bokpin has advised Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to resign because he does not seem to have control of the economy
• Prof Bokpin said had Bawumia been in control, the economy would not be facing the challenges it was facing currently
• He said the vice president would save his academic integrity if he bowed out because he does not seem to wield any influence in how the economy is managed

Economics Professor Godfred Bokpin says Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia does not seem to have a say in how the economy is run despite being Chair of the Economic Management Team.

The senior fellow of think tank IMANI Africa told Joy News that things would not be this bad if the vice president had control of how the economy was run.

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“I sympathise with the Vice President. He is always at the face of the NPP’s economic engineering engine, we were told. I believe that if he had enough control maybe things would not be like this,” Prof Bokpin said.

Prof Bokpin’s comment on Friday, July 15, 2022, follows a lecture delivered by the vice president on why Ghana made a U-turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) even though his government had spoken against going to the lender in the past.

Vice President Bawumia said apart from the Russia-Ukraine war and the Covid-19, the previous government was to blame for the current troubles in Ghana’s economy. He said for instance, that the Nana Akufo-Addo government had been compelled to pay over GH¢17 billion to power producers because the previous government under John Mahama signed unnecessary power agreements.

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Many have been mocking the vice president for blaming the former president for Ghana’s problems six years after he and Akufo-Addo took power. Others said Dr Bawumia, who is touted as an economics wizard, is making excuses for a poorly managed economy in which he may have had a hand.

Prof Bokpin advised the vice president that if he feels uncomfortable about his role as the Chair of the Economic Management Committee and lacks influence, he should resign.

“It would serve him better [and] the reason I’m saying so is that it will help him maintain his integrity. He has to take the bold decision,” the professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School said.

IMANI fellow predicts free SHS policy will soon destroy all public secondary schools

YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that another fellow of think tank IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Bright Simons, has said the future looks bleak for the public secondary schools under the Free SHS policy.

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He tweeted on Thursday, July 14, 2022, that because the policy is steeped in politics, no government after Nana Akufo-Addo leaves office would be able to touch it.

The social innovator and scientist said the Free Senior High School policy will soon suffer the same fate as the government-run primary schools that are usually seriously deprived, known popularly as "syto."

Source: YEN.com.gh