He Has Deepened Our Woes; Ato Forson After Mid-year Budget Review

The Minority leader in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson has disagreed with the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta on his ‘turn the corner” assertion following the economic tsunami the country encountered beginning in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

He holds that the government has rather exacerbated the country’s woes.

The Minister while delivering the Mid-year budget review said the country has begun recovering from the effects of the economic challenges and pointed to what he indicated as the outstanding leadership of the government resulting in “turning the corner”.

According to him the impact of the challenges would have been dire under a different leadership.

“Mr. Speaker, we have avoided the unimaginable, but what could have been so easily possible under different leadership circumstances. With a lot of effort, we have managed to avoid empty shop shelves for medicines and other essentials; we have seen no shortages of food; we have been spared the frustrating spectre of long queues for fuel at our filling stations; and, we have managed, in spite of all the challenges, to keep the lights on. Indeed, as the Psalmist said (in Psalm 118:23) this is the LORD’s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes.”

“This ‘turning the corner’ is underpinned by the investments and sacrifices we have collectively made during this difficult period since March 2020,” he added.

“Mr Speaker, it is no exaggeration to say we cannot find another period in our history where so many different headwinds hit our economy at the same time with unrelenting speed and scale. Thankfully, as the numbers are beginning to show and as many Hon. Members of the House have indicated to me in our engagements, we have, together as a nation, turned the corner.”

But the Minority in Parliament disagrees with him as they hold the government has instead deepen “our woes”.

Commenting on this, the Minority leaders warned, “Let the Minster not say it anywhere that the corner has been turned.”