Will Baah-Wiredu ever take up his own challenge?

There are very strong indications that Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, the Minister of Finance is running away from a challenge to debate the Government’s economic policies which he threw to critics.

Since May, the Minister has managed to scuttle all attempts to get him participate in a debate with the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) and Mr Nii Thompson, an economist.

Within 24 hours of the Minister’s challenge, it was accepted by the SFG which invited him to participate in a debate on “Ghana’s Political Economy; Policy, Prospects and Alternatives” on Friday June 2, 2006.

Mr Baah-Wiredu went on radio and said he was ready for the debate and that the proposed date was too far away.

“I am ready for the debate even now,” he declared.

Strangely, two days before the debate, the Minister wrote to the SFG to complain that he had not been consulted on the topic, venue and other details of the debate.

He then asked the SFG to get in touch with his office for a discussion of all issues relevant to the debate.

Since then, all efforts by the SFG to reach the Minister have hit the rocks, with officials of the Ministry giving one excuse or the other.

Initially, the officials said the Minister was out of the country.

Then they claimed that even though he had returned from his journey abroad, he would not be available until the week-end.

At the weekend, the SFG was told that he could still not be reached.

Last week, the SFG fired another letter to the Minster expressing its frustration over the attitude of the Minister to a challenge he himself had thrown to the critics of the Government.

The SFG says it is ready to debate with the Minister at a venue and time of his choice.