Ignore TUC’s caution against IMF bailout – Prof. Baah

Head of the Political Science Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Richard Amoako Baah, says a caution by the Trade Union Congress to President Mahama not to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is misplaced.

There are controversies in the corridors of power indicating that government has been thinking of seeking a possible bailout from the IMF considering the off-putting prospects of the nation’s major economic indicators with the burden of government capital and recurrent expenditure far outstripping available revenue and resources.

However, TUC Secretary General, Kofi Asamoah, at the May Day Celebration in Accra on Thursday, directly warned the president against going to the IMF for help to revive the country’s ailing economy, as according to him, bailouts from the IMF in the past are to blame for the country’s current economic woes.

Making his submission, Mr. Kofi Asamoah stated, “Your Excellency, times are hard; the prognosis on the economy is not good either, but we must at this point resist the temptation to seek IMF bailout. As we have stated, it is the IMF-sponsored policies that have brought us almost to the brink. No country has developed following the advice of the IMF. Resorting to the IMF for financial support was a mistake we made in the past. We must take responsibility for this mistake and find a solution to our problem”.

But outspoken Head of Political Science Department of the KNUST, Prof. Richard Amoako Baah, disagrees with the TUC’s position and wants government to disregard the caution.

Speaking to Kumasi-based Ultimate Radio, Prof. Amoako Baah emphasized that, going to the IMF for a bailout isn’t a pleasant decision but an inevitable course if the nation gets to its wits end and not even the tantrums of the TUC can stop it if the country gets there.

“They don’t have all the information that the President has and if the President decides that we should go for an IMF bailout, it means he has run out of options because on his own, I don’t think it is something he wants to do. If that is what is left to do, then it does not matter what the TUC says, that is what we have to do,” he emphasized.

He further questioned the goodwill of the TUC making such submissions when they keep asking for salary increases at a time when they are aware of the frail standing of the Ghanaian economy.

“If they are working with him and they can say that ok we know that we don’t have money and therefore this increase we are looking for, we are willing to postpone it, then that gives him room to do something else. But you can’t demand salary increases and at the same time say we can’t go for a bailout” he opined.

Prof. Amoako Baah further argued that the IMF wasn’t entirely an evil alternative. He added, however, that any government which goes to it as a last resort to rescue its economy had to expect the fund to ask for a concrete economic working plan before any assistance could be extended.

He opines that if Ghana ever should get to that point, it will demand a strong bargaining ability to ensure that the nation gets a fair negotiation with the fund.