The President of IMANI Ghana, a civil society organization, Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, has commended President John Dramani Mahama’s appointment of Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson as Minister for Finance Designate, describing it as a “sensible appointment”.
Mr. Cudjoe, in a Facebook statement, praised the appointment, saying it marks a departure from the “delusional” plans of Forson’s predecessor, including a $50 billion century bond and mortgaging Ghana’s gold resources through the Agyapa deal.
He described the Agyapa deal as “horrible” and commended IMANI and ACEP for their efforts in thwarting it.
Mr. Cudjoe revealed that he had the opportunity to engage with Dr. Forson in April 2024, discussing strategies to prevent further damage to Ghana’s economy. He expressed confidence in Dr. Forson’s ability to succeed as Finance Minister.
“I was convinced that Hon. Ato Forson had earned the stripes to be a successful finance minister,” he said.
As deputy team leader of the Financial and Economic Resilience in Ghana (FERG) programme, Mr. Cudjoe pledged to support Dr. Forson’s ministry by endorsing the release of £5 million to strengthen ministerial budget preparation, cut out waste, and enhance Ghana’s debt management office.
Mr. Cudjoe wished Dr. Forson well in his new role, saying “Good luck, Ato.”
Below is the full statement:
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 inspite of the oddious 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
Anyway, last April 2024, l 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 strenghten ministerial budget preparation to cut out waste and capacitate Ghana’s debt management office to slow down debt-happy finance ministers among many others.
Good luck Ato.
Franklin CUDJOE writes