President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, has given the indication that his government would alter some of the existing agreements with Ghana’s development partners to meet the realities of the people.
He said doing this would put Ghana and the partners on the same wave-length with regards to what could be done to meet the aspirations of the people in line with the electioneering of the new government.
During a courtesy call on him by the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, Charles Abani, at his residence on Tuesday, the President-elect noted that his government looks forward to working with all stakeholders to return the economy back to normalcy.
“So we look forward to working with you. Looking at the existing programmes we need to tweak them to meet the realities of today. I believe we have had discussions with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) already, and we look to an early engagement so that we can continue to be on the wavelength.
“In the campaign, several promises were made and we need to look at what the reality is in terms of sitting together and seeing what the way forward is. One of our main concerns is the issue of the debt repayments, we need to see how we can smooth them so that we don’t default again, which will be more catastrophic than the currently defaulting,” Mr Mahama explained.
“While the country has a 36-month US$3 billion extended credit facility agreement with the IMF, it has also signed multiple loan agreements with the World Bank with the latest being a US$250 million five-year Ghana Financial Stability Project and a US$250 million facility for the Ghana Energy Sector Recovery Programme,” the President-elect added.
He acknowledged that the journey to return Ghana on track from its dire economic situation would not be easy, but said his team would work around the clock to meet the high expectations of the people.
“I don’t kid myself that it is going to be an easy task, it is going to be quite tough. I anticipated that we were going to win, but I didn’t anticipate the margin by which we were going to win, that is an indication that Ghanaians have a very high expectation and so in managing that expectation, I am trying to work as quickly as possible to meet those expectations,” Mr Mahama stated.
Moreover, he appreciated the UN’s long-standing relationship with Ghana, and expressed his new government’s readiness to work with the global body to ameliorate the suffering of the Ghanaian people.
“With all the other agencies, UNICEF, UNHCR, we are happy to continue to engage to see how we can uplift the cooperation and the work that we do together,” the President-elect said.
Mr Mahama noted that Ghana needs the global community more than ever before “because of the crisis we still face or going through.”
Mr Abani hailed Ghana’s 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, and committed to working with the incoming government, to bring prosperity to the people.
The seamless poll which saw the opposition win with 6,328,397 valid votes representing 56.55 per cent, Mr Abani said has once again put Ghana on the global map as the model of democracy in Africa.
“This [visit] is to assure you that UN stands fully with you and fully with Ghana, we know your presidency is just about to unfold, I can assure you of our collaboration,” he indicated.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI