News:
April 1, 2014
The Member of Parliament for Suhum constituency, Mr Frederick Opare Ansah says President Mahama has to shape up his economy back home first to enable his position attractive as the ECOWAS chairman.
He said even though the Ghanaian leader’s appointment sends signals of respect for the nation amongst the member states, for the same reason he should endeavour to resolve the local challenges confronting the nation, especially in the economic front.
For him, one is not there (ECOWAS parliament) strictly on political grounds, but to ostensibly compete with neighbours in the sub-region for the same investment opportunities and economic benefits, however criticizing the President to ‘repair the economy’ in his country is a cogent argument in tandem with his late election as the ECOWAS chair, to be able to attract the needed glory in his appointment amongst his peers.
The Ghana president was elected during the 44th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
The law maker who is also a member of the Ecowas Parliament made these points when he appeared on the AM talk show today on Multi TV.
Mr. Opare Ansah maintained that clearly things are not well internally as he made specific reference to the continuous decline of the cedi against the dollar, adding that it was very laudable for the Finance Minister to appear later this morning before parliament to give information on the true state of the economy and how government intends to arrest the cedi from further decline.
Also commenting on the boiling debates on the controversial signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the ECOWAS and EU, he noted that it was as if all is not well in that agreement, as a matter of fact the former had to pause and peruse the move carefully before it starts swinging in action on the partnership agreement.
Meanwhile the West African Leaders at a meeting in Ivory Coast over the weekend pushed to May ending before finally signing the full pact of the EPA.
Jonathan Jeffrey Adjei/Ghanamps.gov.gh