As the impact of the ever-depreciating cedi continues to bite hard, some concerned Ghanaians are beginning to express disappointment over the deafening silence of the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The Ghana Cedi has been on a downward spiral in recent days, as the local currency has lost about 26% of its value on a year-to-date basis. Experts attribute this fall to the increased demand for dollars by corporate entities and the recent Eurobond coupon payments.
Businesses and individuals are bemoaning this depreciation due to the negative impact this situation is exerting on their businesses.
One person who has been at the receiving of all the blame is the flagbearer of the governing NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. The then-running mate to President Akufo-Addo ahead of the 2016 general elections promised Ghanaians to stabilize the cedi if elected. He insisted that the rate of depreciation of the local currency showed that the John Dramani Mahama-led government’s economy had weak fundamentals.
The dollar at the time was selling at GH₵4.00. After all the backlash the Mahama administration endured, the dollar is now selling at about GH₵17 after eight years of rule by Akufo-Addo and Bawumia’s administration
With the current situation, the founding president of the IMANI Center for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe believes the silence of the Vice President, who was very vociferous while in opposition, is “disrespecting” to Ghanaians.
Franklin Cudjoe, who claims to have personally suffered the brunt of the free fall of the cedi says he is disappointed that Dr. Bawumia feels unperturbed by the situation at the time the fundamentals of the economy have been exposed by the weakening cedi.
“The fundamentals are at their weakest best and still no definitive believable answer from my man, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia who promised to stop the cedi’s free fall when it was at a disturbing $1=4 cedis in 2016. Now the cedi has gone rouge nearly 17 cedis to the dollar. l feel disrespected and disappointed,” Franklin Cudjoe wrote.
He is therefore demanding answers from the Vice President who is gunning to become president of the country. He insists that with the hard times businesses and individuals are facing with the depreciating cedi, they deserve an explanation from Dr. Bawumia on the situation.
“l have to travel in a couple of weeks for important life-impacting reasons, and I need to cough up lots of cedis to buy tickets, not to talk about the astronomical taxes and levies on tickets. The same dilemma faces various businesses and individuals. Is it possible l can get credible responses soon?” he quizzed.
