Ofori-Atta vs Ato Forson: The undertakers want credit for the resurrection – Kay Codjoe writes

There is a particularly offensive kind of political propaganda circulating under the Jandam trademark: Ato Forson is supposedly no better than Ken Ofori-Atta.

Herh! Some people have mistaken Ghana’s recovery for collective forgetfulness. The audacity is almost a psychiatric case study.

Before celebrating the hospital discharge, perhaps we should revisit the mortuary.

Under Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s economy became critically ill. Debt spread like cancer. Inflation reached 54.1% in December 2022. The cedi lost value. Interest payments consumed government revenue. Businesses struggled while families watched their money buy less.

This was an economic emergency requiring intensive care, not another PowerPoint presentation about Ghana Beyond Aid.

Then came financial surgery without enough pain relief: the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).

Government bonds were restructured, forcing changes to repayment terms. Pensioners demonstrated. People who trusted government promises discovered that those promises could apparently turn into apologies.

People saved for retirement and suffered the consequences of somebody else’s economic management.

Ghana stopped paying some foreign debts and returned to the IMF for a US$3 billion rescue programme.

The Ghana Beyond Aid sermon ended at the IMF reception desk.

And the political doctors responsible continued prescribing patriotism.

Remember the E-Levy? There was even a cake celebrating the tax proposal! While Ghanaians worried about another levy, the political theatre came with icing. There was also the National Cathedral spending controversy, Agyapa, SML and questions about Databank’s government-related business.

Even Ofori-Atta’s political colleagues recognised the emergency.

In October 2022, approximately 80 NPP parliamentarians demanded his removal. By November, the dissatisfied group reportedly numbered 98. They threatened to boycott government business.

Imagine that! His own party’s MPs demanded that the financial surgeon surrender his instruments. Yet President Akufo-Addo pleaded for more time.

When Ofori-Atta was replaced in February 2024, the President appointed him Senior Presidential Advisor and Special Envoy for International Finance and Private Sector Investments.

Extraordinary!

In Ghanaian political medicine, apparently, a failed operation can earn you promotion to the international ward.

Now examine the figures confronting Jandam’s defenders. October inflation: 9.5% under Ofori-Atta in 2018 versus 5.5% under Forson in 2026. The 91-day Treasury bill rate: 13.6% versus 4.6%. Over their respective first 22 months, the cedi lost 12.3% under Ofori-Atta but gained 26.2% under Forson. Foreign reserves covered 3.6 versus 4.5 months of imports.

Different starting conditions, certainly. Ofori-Atta enjoyed stronger first-year growth, only to preside over an economy requiring IMF emergency treatment. Apparently, Jandam calculators celebrate the patient’s early pulse but forget the financial cardiac arrest that followed.

Ofori-Atta’s troubles eventually crossed the Atlantic. After leaving Ghana in January 2025, he became the subject of criminal investigations, arrest warrants and an extradition request. Detained by US immigration authorities, he pursued immigration relief while his lawyers questioned whether he could receive a fair trial in Ghana.

The former manager of Ghana’s financial problems now faces international legal proceedings concerning his return. The criminal allegations remain unproven, and he retains his right to defend himself.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s recovery requires something Jandam conveniently forgets: fiscal discipline. Government must control spending, manage debt and avoid borrowing beyond what the country can afford.

When a patient survives a near-fatal illness, doctors do not recommend returning to the habits that caused the emergency.

There must be medication, dietary changes, monitoring and rehabilitation.

We had to cry now to laugh later.

Controlling government spending can hurt. Recovery takes time. But abandoning treatment because the patient feels uncomfortable risks another admission.

Ghana has been discharged from intensive care, figuratively speaking. We are not cured. Debt problems remain, and economic improvements must reach ordinary households.

A falling inflation rate does not mean yesterday’s high prices have disappeared. A stronger cedi cannot automatically resurrect collapsed businesses. And a primary surplus cannot feed a hungry household merely because the Finance Minister pronounces it beautifully.

Therapy matters. Rehabilitation matters. The patient must never mistake temporary improvement for a permanent cure.

Ato Forson must deliver real economic results, not become an object of political worship.

But the Jandamists, suffering from the political elephantiasis of the NPP’s economic mismanagement, cannot demand yesterday’s disastrous policies while pretending yesterday’s financial damage never happened. Their swollen record of failure cannot suddenly pass for an impressive legacy.

The same political establishment that defended the surgeon cannot appoint itself chairman of the patients’ welfare association.

The patient survived. The scars remain. Those who managed the economy during the emergency cannot confuse the recovery ward with a centre for rebuilding political reputations.

Ghana needs physiotherapy, not another appointment with political surgeons whose previous operation ended at the IMF emergency unit.

And if Jandamists insist the two economic records are identical, perhaps the problem is no longer economic.

It may be a severe case of politically induced selective memory.