Bolga Central Member of Parliament Isaac Adongo has said a comment by the Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu that Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia cannot be blamed for the economic challenges because the buck stops with the President, cannot be accepted.
He says Dr Bawumia knew that the buck stops with the President, but went ahead to assure Ghanaians that the free-fall of the Cedi had been controlled.
“You went out and told them that you had arrested the dollar, you didn’t know that the buck stops with the President?” the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee told Keminni Amanor on Hot Issues on TV3, Sunday December 3.
It is recalled that Osei-Mensah-Bonsu defended Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia against criticisms that he mismanaged the economy as head of the Economic Management Team (EMT).
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu indicated that Dr Bawumia only played advisory roles. “The buck stops with the President,” he intimated.
Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Keminni Amanor on TV3’s Hot Issues, the Suame lawmaker said: “The management of the economy is at the behest of the person who wields executive power, the Vice President is only to advise the boss, the buck stops with the boss.”
Critics including Former President John Dramani Mahama have accused the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Bawumia of plunging the economy into difficulties.
Mr Mahama called for the removal of Dr Bawumia as head of the EMT because he has failed.
In an earlier statement welcoming the decision by the Akufo-Addo administration to head to the IMF, Mr Mahama said on Saturday, July 2, 2022 that “President Akufo-Addo must take a bold decision to replace his Finance Minister immediately with a more assured and competent person who is willing and able to work tirelessly to turn our almost hopeless situation around.
‘In addition, given his obvious failures, the Vice President must be relieved of his responsibility as Chair of the Economic Management Team to enable the President to reconstitute the team.
“We must draw useful lessons from this episode and avoid cheap politicking with the economy; that can only yield the disastrous outcomes that have brought us here,” Mr. Mahama said.