A professor at the University of Ghana School of Law, Kwadwo Appagyei-Atua, has rated the performance of the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, as below average for the year 2022.

According to the professor, his poor rating of the minister is a result of various factors including the depreciation of the cedi against major trading currencies as well as the circumstance around the government’s decision to seek an IMF loan to save the economy of Ghana.

“On a score of one to ten, I think I will rate the minister at between two and three,” he told JoyNews in an interview.

“Economies boils down to the basics and what people feel in their pockets, and how they go about their lives. Looking at the way and manner in which the economy has been managed this year, the conclusion you come to is that it has largely been mismanaged.

“For example, you take at the beginning of the year where the cedi was and how much it has depreciated to this level and the fact that you would not hear the government or the minister for finance making any concrete decisions and taking concrete steps to arrest the decline of the cedi, that is one major negative for the minister for finance and economic planning,” Prof. Appiagyei-Atua added.

The legal luminary added that the decision by the government to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund despite an earlier position against same and the failure of the government to heed earlier calls by civil society about the need for the bailout adds to the minister’s failure.

Overall, Prof. Appiagyei-Atua also rated the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as the worst-performing ministry for the year 2023.

“To me, I think if you want to pick the ministries and rate them in terms of the ministry that didn’t perform best at all, I think the ministry of finance and economic planning will come first,” he stated.

Throughout the year 2022, there were calls for the dismissal of the minister for finance with his critics accusing him of mismanaging the economy, among other things.

In parliament, the minority made up of opposition members of the house filed a censure motion which failed in a vote.

Within his New Patriotic Party, some MPs have voiced out for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta as the minister for finance.

GA/FNOQ