Investigative journalist and author, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has in his recent book titled, ‘The President Ghana Never Got’ discussed Ghana’s debt, revealing how President Akufo-Addo astronomically increased the country’s indebtedness.
In the chapter 10 of this book, he disclosed how the Akufo-Addo government has only managed to sink Ghana into debt which would take several years to repay.
His post made on X read, “When Akufo-Addo took over as president, Ghana’s public debt, since independence, stood at GHS122.2 billion. As of June 2024, Ghana’s public debt stood at GHS 742 billion.The Akufo-Addo government, led by his cousin and Finance Minister, borrowed heavily, and Ghana could not pay its debt, so the government embarked on debt restructuring programmes, in which some Ghanaians suffered haircuts and “headcuts””.
He discussed how for seven years, the finance minister who was supposed to ensure the judicious use of the money Ghana borrowed so, the country’s borrowing would reduce, actually owned a company that made money any time we borrowed.
“And there’s evidence, at least from the SML scandal, that the Finance Minister was involved in the wasteful expenditures that contributed to our borrowing and economic woes”.
Ghanaian Comedian, Michael Blackson who recently suffered a ‘haircut’, has called out Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Finance Minister for putting him in a state of financial setback after losing his money in the government’s Eurobond investment.