Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed his excitement about Akufo-Addo government running to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.

Mr. Ablakwa, who has since been monitoring and criticising President Akufo-Addo for his foreign trips, said the IMF among other conditions will ban Akufo-Addo from hiring luxurious jets for foreign travels.

In a tweet on Friday, July 1, 2022, sighted by Modernghana News, the outspoken lawmaker disclosed that government always uses what he described as an insensitive, wasteful, oligarchic €20,000 sum of money on a plane per hour, costing Ghana over GHS34 million in 13 months.

“Perhaps the only positive outcome of an IMF bailout is that they wouldn’t allow Prez Akufo-Addo to obstinately continue with his insensitive, wasteful, oligarchic €20,000 an hour chartered luxury jet travels which have cost the suffering taxpayer over GHS34million in 13 months,” Mr. Ablakwa tweeted.

The government of Ghana is in discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to seek support in the midst of the economic challenges that have brought unbearable hardships to Ghanaians.

In a press release issued by the Ministry in charge of Information, Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed that President Akufo-Addo has already informed the IMF of plans to seek help.

“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorized Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to commence formal engagements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inviting the Fund to support an economic program put together by the Government of Ghana.

“This follows a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund,” parts of the Ministry of Information press release reads.

It adds, “At a meeting on June 30th, 2022, cabinet indicated its support for the decision. The engagement with the IMF will seek to provide balance of payment support as part of a broader effort to quicken Ghana’s build back in the face of challenges induced by the Covid-19 pandemic and, recently, the Russia-Ukraine crises.”

In the past week, there have been heightened calls for the government to consider enrolling onto an IMF programme in the phase of the continuous economic challenges.

Although the government had in the past stressed that it was using home-grown solutions to tackle the issues, it has now decided to go to the IMF for help.