Otabil, Bawumia “sowing seeds of fear, panic” – Group

The People’s Forum has accused the 2012 running mate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and the General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church, Dr Mensa Otabil, of deliberately causing fear and panic in society.

The pressure group has argued that the two personalities, in particular, are deliberately putting Ghana’s economy in bad light to “score cheap political points” and also using their commentators to fuel the debate to sow “seeds of discontent.”

The convener of the group, Clement Amole, at a press conference in Accra, Tuesday, said after describing the economy as “a sinking ship” and accusing the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Statistical Service of “cooking inflation and exchange rate figures” it is about time Dr Otabil and Dr Bawumia, respectively, are hauled to the same platform with the “indicted” institutions to debate the issue.

He said: “It is bad enough when ordinary critics embark on this tangent; it, however, becomes more dangerous for our country's economic wellbeing when former public officials or active clergymen who find themselves on the other side of the political divide, engage in these systematic manipulation of the challenging economic situation, to score cheap political points at a time when our country needs unity of purpose to confront the recurrence of the cyclical economic challenges that have historically bedeviled our country since 1957.”

“We find it very compelling to bring Dr. Bawumia, the BoG and the GSS on one common platform to critically analyse the economic situation in relation to his assertions, for the fact that he was a former public official, who may have access to certain confidential information that we are not privy to. As far as we know, Dr. Bawumia was the Deputy Governor of the BOG and as such, he should be made to give rigorous evidence and facts to back the claims he makes against independent state institutions whose figures he previously used in the performance of his duties,” Amole added.

Below is the group’s full statement:

We live in a country where freedom of expression is entrenched in our constitution. Freedom of expression is inalienable and as such everyone is entitled to express his or her view on any political, social, economic or religious issue.

However, such expressions must be based on solid facts, truths and realities. It is in the exercise of this God-given right that we as the People's Forum hold this press conference on the above subject matter.

It is also a prerequisite that in freely expressing oneself, it must be done in an absolutely responsible manner, knowing well that what we say may have far-reaching effects than we intended. This responsibility means putting the national interest first--ahead of partisan politics--so that whatever is expressed does not offset the delicate social and economic balance in our society. However, we have observed in the past months that certain individuals, under the guise of evaluating the socio-economic situation in the country, are subtly sowing seeds of discontent, confusion, fear and panic within the general citizenry. We have also taken notice of some individuals who, although not belonging to the present administration, have contributed their positive quota to enhance the country’s economic prospects. Notable among them is Mr. Andrews Kwame Pianim.

In recent weeks, political proxies calling themselves economic analysts, social commentators and clergymen have taken advantage of the constitutional provisions for freedom of expression to propagate distorted and deliberate misinformation in an attempt to make the economy appear to be "sinking." It becomes even more disturbing when in their ridiculous attempts to paint gloomy pictures of the socio-economic situation in the country; these so-called analysts and commentators try to run down state institutions.

It is bad enough when ordinary critics embark on this tangent; it however becomes more dangerous for our country's economic wellbeing when former public officials or active clergymen who find themselves on the other side of the political divide engage in these systematic manipulation of the challenging economic situation, to score cheap political points at a time when our country needs unity of purpose to confront the recurrence of the cyclical economic challenges that have historically bedeviled our country since 1957.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we are by this press conference stating that we are offering to create a platform for such speculators and the state institutions indicted like the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) who have both been accused of "cooking" figures or misrepresenting the real economic situation we are in, to help the good people of Ghana make their own judgment as to who is speaking the truth. We are all aware of the recent negative pronouncements on the economy by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and a prominent clergyman. You will be surprised to know how damaging such statements are to our economy.

Sadly, in the case of Dr. Bawumia, he mentioned a few statistical figures to back his claims. We are aware that many Ghanaians believe Dr. Bawumia as a professional economist whose analysis should be taken as the ‘gospel-truth, believing same absolutely".

In fact, we think anytime he comes out with his analysis, some people take advantage of it and systematically plan to dampen confidence in the economy and our state institutions just to boost their personal political ambition and their dream of getting political power. We are at a loss as to whether he speaks as an economist or the politician we know him to be, due to the fact that his comments appear to be mostly designed to create panic in the foreign exchange market, the capital market and among the business and investor community judging from the political direction his statements on the economy generally takes. The question we'd like to ask Dr Bawumia is: would he feel fairly treated if he is accused of "cooking" economic figures he presented to the public when he was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana? Was Dr Bawumia actually "cooking" figures when he was a Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana?

Even though the Ghana Statistical Service has rightly come out publicly to debunk such preposterous claims, we feel further steps should be taken to ensure that when such economic misinformation are churned out into the public space, they are backed with incontrovertible facts devoid of potential risks to the national economy. First of all, attempts to justify Dr. Bawumia’s allegations because he is an economist have been very difficult to delink from his political ambitions because whatever information he is passing across cannot be fairly balanced nor academically honest enough to make the present Government popular considering that he has twice been the running mate of a certain political party.

We find it very compelling to bring Dr. Bawumia, the BoG and the GSS on one common platform to critically analyze the economic situation in relation to his assertions, for the fact that he was a former public official who may have access to certain confidential information that we are not privy to. As far as we know, Dr. Bawumia was the Deputy Governor of the BOG and as such he should be made to give rigorous evidence and facts to back the claims he makes against independent state institutions whose figures he previously used in the performance of his duties.

It is a well-known fact that the deeply worrying exchange rate depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi against other major foreign currencies caused by both external and domestic factors has had adverse effects on economic activities in the country. It has posed significant threats to public finances and other macroeconomic variables. These factors have directly led to temporary economic challenges for the transformational economic progress that the current administration promised. We believe the President and his Finance Minister have been working to transform the Ghanaian economy once and for all, so that our country can permanently put a stop to the recurrent economic imbalances that reemerge every decade since Nkrumah's days in government.

Clearly, Ghana's cedi has seen debilitating decline basically from reasons that are far outside the control of our nation's Government alone including the loss of foreign exchange from the rapid fall in world commodity prices; the sharp decline in grants from our Development Partners from 2012 to date; speculative activities of some banks, financial institutions, foreign exchange bureau and individuals. We all know that the country's insatiable appetite for the consumption of imported goods without exporting much creates a huge trade deficit, which is putting a strain on available foreign exchange reserves.

As much as we would not want to pin all the economic challenges on the depreciating local currency, we cannot but admit that the phenomenon has had an effect on the cost of utilities, energy and transportation. This situation is affecting national output and has generally affected government's ability to mobilize the required tax revenues. An important aspect that cannot be ignored is the dangers of negative speculation which derail whatever efforts government is putting in place to correct the imbalances in the economy.

Negative speculators know this, and they are exploiting it with shameless vigor. Critics have by default, made it appear as though the Ghanaian economy is "sinking" as recently claimed by the prominent clergyman. It will interest you to know that these people know that what they are doing is not in the interest of the nation. Critics of the government have systematically infused the "sinking economy" phrase in significant statements they have made on various platforms. Unfortunately, it appears this negative phrase has caught on, further stoking concern from the investor community, businesses and the general public. We at the People’s Forum find it very disturbing that certain individuals, who have been systematically marketed as neutral economists and church leaders despite their obvious political interests, blatantly indulge other ignorant commentators to fuel the extreme speculations being churned out to ground the economy.

We state categorically that, henceforth, any individual or institution that attempt to run down any state institution should be ready to face such institutions on a platform we will be creating to prove his point. We believe in the state institutions and enjoin all Ghanaians to do same. We need strong institutions to develop our country. We must all come together to protect our hardworking public institutions for they hold a significant.