The founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has expressed his approval of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson's nomination as Minister for Finance by President John Dramani Mahama.

In a Facebook post, Cudjoe praised the appointment, contrasting Forson with his predecessor, whom he criticized for pursuing unrealistic financial strategies and poor deals. He highlighted the previous administration's controversial plans, including a $50 billion century bond and the Agyapa deal, which he described as detrimental to Ghana's economic stability.

“Hon. Ato Forson for Finance Minister. Sensible appointment. Thankfully, he is not an overhyped investment banker who would have wet dreams of some delusional $50bn century bond his predecessor entertained in spite of the odious debts he had accumulated. Worse, he was planning to mortgage our gold resources through very bad deals like Agyapa. Agyapa was horrible and kudos to IMANI and our cousins at ACEP for leading the charge to kill it. Whoever advised Agyapa must be lashed 38 times,” he wrote.

Reflecting on his personal experience with Ato Forson, Franklin Cudjoe recounted an insightful meeting in April 2024, where they discussed strategies to address Ghana's fiscal and macroeconomic challenges.

The meeting, which included Ghanaian and British consultants, according to him, was part of the Financial and Economic Resilience in Ghana (FERG) programme, a £5 million initiative by the British Government. He expressed confidence in Ato Forson's capabilities, stating that he had earned the stripes to be a successful finance minister.

As the deputy team leader of the FERG mission, Cudjoe pledged to endorse the release of the £5 million to support Ato Forson's efforts in strengthening ministerial budget preparation and enhancing Ghana's debt management office.

“Anyway, last April 2024, I had an opportunity to engage Ato Forson up close to discuss what must be done to prevent further damage to our jalopy economy. I had invited him to meet a small team of Ghanaian and British consultants the British Government recently engaged to design a modest new, £5m programme - the Financial and Economic Resilience in Ghana (FERG) programme - to complement existing workstreams, and those of other development partners, to address Ghana’s longstanding challenges with fiscal and macroeconomic instability. The interaction was eye-opening and worth every second of the two-hour encounter. I was convinced that Hon. Ato Forson had earned the stripes to be a successful finance minister.

“As deputy team leader of the mission, I will endorse the release of the £5m as soon as possible to help Ato Forson strengthen ministerial budget preparation to cut out waste and capacitate Ghana’s debt management office to slow down debt-happy finance ministers among many others,” he added.

President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday, January 9, 2024, named his first batch of ministerial nominees following his inauguration on Tuesday.

The list by the president included Dr. Ato Forson as Minister for Finance-designate, John Abdulai Jinapor as the Minister-designate for Energy, and Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine as the Attorney General and Minister-designate for Justice.

While Ato Forson’s nomination has received wide approval, some critics have emphasized the weight of the task ahead of him left by his predecessors Ken Ofori-Atta and Dr. Amin Adam.



GA/EK

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