According to Kwabena Agyepong, a former general secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, ought to have resigned after deciding to request a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr. Agyepong asserts that people ought to be humble and accept responsibility for their mistakes.

After saying for a few weeks that Ghana would not approach the IMF for assistance, Ofori-Atta completely changed his mind and approached the organization for a bailout to help the crippling economy.

Mr. Agyepong claimed in an interview on Starr FM that such behavior ought to result in resignation in a democracy that is functioning. He disapproved of the President’s choice to remain silent and keep the Finance Minister in place.

“He [Ofori-Atta] had stood in front of all Ghanaians and said that we were not going to the IMF and did a full U-turn in a couple of weeks. And I said in any decent democracy you stand down as a person. He chose not to go and I disagree with the President for not taking the action to let him go.

“Months down the line the MPs, how many of them 88 [MPs called for his resignation] so I wasn’t wrong. I was just having that foresight, months down the line. So these are difficult things that as Ghanaians as party people we have to deal with,” Mr. Agyepong said.

“Again it is important that we have the humility that we have been through a lot of difficulties, difficult times, and challenges. Although the government has delivered on several fronts there are other fronts that we have struggled with.” He added.

The idea that Mr. Agyepong harbors animosity toward the Finance Minister was also refuted.

“Sometimes, people create the impression that I have an issue with him but I don’t.”