Renowned economist and a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwame Pianim is not happy the Minister of Finance, Kenneth Ofori-Atta, does not pick his calls.
The Yale-trained investment consultant minced no words when he said Mr Ofori-Atta has badly managed the economy and will go down in history as the Finance Minister who has borrowed more than all his predecessors.
“He has over-borrowed [and we are not getting value for money,” Mr Pianim stated in an interview on TV3‘s New Day on Wednesday, December 22.
“And he needs to realise that he is not just a budget and expenditure minister, he is Minister for Finance. Finance means growing the economy.”
He shot down the recently captured Electronics Transactions Levy, widely known as e-levy, in the 2022 budget, saying it is a wrong move to raise funds for infrastructure and, therefore, must be abandoned.
“We have to go back to the basics. This expenditure, what is it on it for? Do we get value for money?”
Asked by presenter Berla Mundi why he would not make his suggestions available to the government given his membership of the ruling NPP, the former board chairman of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) said Mr Ofori-Atta does not pick his calls.
“The Finance Minister doesn’t take my phone calls,” he remonstrated. “The Deputy [Finance Minister] took. I reached out. I talked to the president.”
He confirmed that about three weeks ago, he reached out to the President, whom he exonerates as picking his calls but “he is very busy”.
“Finance Minister doesn’t take my phone calls.
“Even when I reached out to his Personal Assistants to book an appointment, he doesn’t give me an appointment.
“They know what they are doing.”
