President John Dramani Mahama has taken a subtle jab at the previous administration led by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, stating that his government will not organise celebratory “kenkey and waakye parties” over Ghana’s exit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Speaking at a citizens’ engagement at Ndewura Jakpa Senior High School in the Savannah Region on Saturday, May 23, President Mahama said his administration inherited an IMF-supported programme that was already facing serious challenges and was at risk of collapsing by the time the NDC government assumed office in January 2025.
According to the President, key performance indicators agreed under the programme had significantly gone off track, forcing his administration to take difficult but necessary measures to restore confidence and ensure the continuation of the programme.
“We inherited the IMF programme from the previous government. At the time we took over, all the agreed performance indicators were out of track, which meant that the programme was in danger of derailment so we had to take some stringent actions to bring it back into alignment and we were able to do that.”
President Mahama explained that after his government implemented corrective measures, subsequent review missions by the IMF acknowledged the progress made in stabilising the programme.
He noted that the latest IMF mission, which concluded its work in Ghana just last week, expressed satisfaction with the government’s performance and recommendations are now expected to be forwarded to the IMF Executive Board for approval of the next disbursement.
“The missions that came approved the programme and the final mission just left Ghana last week and they have given us a satisfying mark and it is now going to the board to release the last tranche of $380 million to support our economy but we are not going to have a kenkey party because it is still work in progress.”