‘You’re blackmailing us to make you President to solve your own mess’ – Adongo jabs Bawumia

Isaac Adongo thinks the Vice President’s trajectory to assuming the highest office of the land is a “blackmail”, considering his contributions to the failure of the current administration and the promises he is making.

The Bolgatanga Central Member of Parliament says the Vice President who is also the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) spearheaded the introduction of numerous nuisance taxes as head of the Economic Management Team (EMT) after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) denied Ghana a bailout for mismanaging the economy.

According to the legislator, Ghana got to that stage after being ‘blacklisted’ on the Eurobond market for the incessant lies told the creditors by Ghana’s EMT.

Isaac Adongo has been telling Captain Smart on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, that Dr. Bawumia introduced the tax on betting, electricity, e-levy amongst others after failing to meet the Bretton Wood Institution’s conditionalities.

“People hide their funds when they see Ken Ofori-Atta and Bawumia on the Eurobond market. They told them (creditors) that by 2020, Ghana was going to become one of the largest oil producing countries in the world. They said we were going to produce 500k barrels of oil a day. We are in 2024, how many barrels can we produce a day? That was a lie they told to get money from the whites,” the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee alleged.

He continued that “with all his economic prowess, this man (Bawumia) took Ghana to the IMF and they (IMF) wondered why we spent lavishly despite lacking and Bawumia said we should develop a revenue mobilization strategy to get our own money which included the e-levy, betting tax, electricity vat and asked that his people come and approve it in Parliament so he can collect all these taxes.

“You’re blackmailing us to make you President to solve your own mess. If he says he knows nothing about it, it is unacceptable. When the e-levy came, he refused to speak about it,” he added.

On the number of ministers promised by the Vice President, Mr. Adongo said Bawumia is an expert in working with many appointees, the reason he has appointed over 200 people to work on his manifesto.

He said with the manifesto scenario and working under President Akufo-Addo who appointed so many ministers, it is impossible for Bawumia to work with the 50 ministers he has promised.

“Akufo-Addo appointed 125 ministers but you claim you are going to reduce it to 50. Meanwhile, you learnt about 125 ministers. Those drafting your manifesto are over 200 so how many would you use to rule? Talk of MMDCEs, deputy ministers and all,” he stressed.