The Founder and President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has described Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s appointment as Finance Minister-designate as a “sensible” decision.
Mr. Cudjoe made the remark in a Facebook post on Friday, January 10, following President John Dramani Mahama’s announcement of his first ministerial list.
In his post, Mr. Cudjoe compared Dr. Forson’s nomination to what he considered the failures of the outgoing administration’s finance leadership.
He criticized the previous Finance Minister for pursuing overly ambitious financial projects, such as the proposed $50 billion century bond, which he called “delusional,” and pointed to controversial policies like the Agyapa royalties deal.
“Ato Forson for Finance Minister. Sensible appointment,” he wrote. “Thankfully, he is not an overhyped investment banker who would have wet dreams of some delusional $50bn century bond his predecessor entertained, despite the odious debts he had accumulated. Worse, he was planning to mortgage our gold resources through very bad deals like Agyapa.”
Mr. Cudjoe also praised advocacy groups, including IMANI and the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), for their successful efforts in opposing the Agyapa deal.
“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,” he added.
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