General News of Friday, 14 February 2014

Source: Nicholas Opuni Opoku

Resign if you can't do the job - Prof. Baah tells Mahama

The Head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof. Richard Amoako Baah, has lashed out at what he says is President John Mahama's poor performance, and has called on him to resign if he cannot run the country efficiently.

Prof. Amoako Baah was responding to calls by Former President Jerry Rawlings that there should be a ministerial reshuffle in President Mahama’s government.

Mr. Rawlings in an exclusive Interview with Joy News’ Elton John Brobbey said people have “reached the saturation point” and felt it is important that President Mahama reshuffled his ministers.

But Speaking on Joy Midday News, Friday, Prof. Amoako Baah said, “if he can’t do it then he should do the honourable thing and resign and let somebody else do it".

He explained that the president cannot continue to pretend to be blameless in the face of the mounting economic challenges.

"...He is saying that it is not his fault; it is not the policies of the government that the cedi is falling like that…that tells me he doesn’t even know the problems we are facing. If that is the case, he should save his country from further decline and resign.”

The Political Scientist also suggested that the Ministers of Education, Finance and Trade should be reshuffled for more experienced people to take over.

He said, "we need drastic changes, not just in terms of money…the Ministry of Finance, they need to come up with ingenious ways of making things work".

“…running a government is not always based on just having cash in your hands which we don’t have now, but having a good plan,” he stressed.

Prof. Baah said the “Ministry of Trade also should be looked at because all of this free fall of the cedi…part of it is because of that. We don’t encourage local exports. There should be ways of protecting local industry".