Gabby Pinning Akufo Addo Administration’s Incompetence on Russia-Ukraine War

Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, the notorious cousin of president Akufo-Addo, has jumped on the bandwagon to flaunt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an excuse for the mess that his cousin, President Akufo-Addo has made of Ghana’s economy.

In a Facebook post, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko became an overnight in international economics and Eurasian geopolitics, saying that the war will bring untold hardships to Ghanaians.

“First the COVID-19 pandemic and now war in Ukraine. Neither of these are our doing but we bear the brunt. It is only going to get tougher and rougher. Let’s brace ourselves. Markets are whacked, as global stocks and futures tumble, while commodities surge. The flight to safety is seeing Treasury yields rising and gold (not bad for Ghana though) hitting the highest since early 2021. The dollar is rising, putting pressure on African currencies especially,” he wrote.

He adds, “European natural gas soars as much as 41%, triggering inflation there with ramifications worldwide. Brent crude climbs above $105 a barrel for the first time since 2014, which will certainly lead to higher cost of living here in Ghana and elsewhere.”

But Gabby’s lament and obvious attempt to blame an already messy situation on COVID-19 and the Russian invasion is dubious. The Akufo-Addo government had been failing economically even before COVID-19 struck in March 2020.

Besides, in respect of the Russian invasion, the negative effect on the global economy is anticipated from increases in petroleum prices as Russia is the world’s second-highest producer of oil.

However, it also remains true that Ghana is both an importer and an exporter of oil at the same time but has been constrained to be importing finished petroleum products because the Akufo-Addo government has incompetently run the Tema Oil Refinery aground.

Even before 2019, it was clear that the government’s insatiable appetite for borrowing was going to lead to the current troubles that it finds itself in, but Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta did not relent.

This is because there is a dubious setup by his Ministry in which his private company, Databank Financial Services, has a contract from the government as a so-called bond market expert so that anytime he borrows in the name of government, Data Bank makes money.

In respect of COVID-19, the Akufo-Addo government has had more than Ghc30billion in COVID-19 funds since the pandemic began but has not been able to account for how the money was blown.

The government has also used every dirty trick in the book to elude demands for it to account for the money.