Be patient, Mahama has not yet been sworn into office – Joe Jackson tells Steve Hanke

The Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Mr Joe Jackson has told Steve Hanke, an American economist and professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University, that he should be patient with his criticism of President-elect John Dramani Mahama because he has not been sworn into office yet.

Mr Joe Jackson says there is nothing wrong with Mr Mahama’s plan to renegotiate the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for which Prof Hanke is criticising him.

In a post on his X page, Mr Joe Jackson said “Prof Steve Hanke, What is so wrong with renegotiating Ghana’s IMF deal that you brand our incoming government incompetent? They have yet to be sworn in! Let’s all have patience. Rome was not built in a day.”

Prof Steve Hanke,

What is so wrong with renegotiating Ghana’s IMF deal that you brand our incoming Government incompetent?
They have yet to be sworn in! Let’s all have patience.
Rome was not built in a day.#PatienceForGhanaReset https://t.co/SmNT9TqEwd

— Joe Jackson (@Joe_Jackson_GH) December 27, 2024

Prof Hanke had described plans by Mr Mahama to renegotiate the deal between Ghana and the IMF as a mark of incompetence.

Following his victory in the 2024 general elections, Mr Mahama pledged to review Ghana’s existing agreements with development partners to align with the country’s current needs and aspirations.

Speaking during a courtesy call by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Charles Abani, Mr Mahama emphasised the importance of creating partnerships that reflected the realities of today and the vision of his incoming government.

“This adjustment is crucial and will help put the new government that would be inaugurated next year on the same springboard with our development partners to begin the rebuilding of the economy and the country,” Mr Mahama stated.

He added “Looking at the existing programmes we need to tweak them to meet the realities of today. I believe we have had discussions with the World Bank and the IMF already and we look to an early engagement so that we can continue to be on the wavelength.

“Of course in the campaign, several promises were made, we need to look at what the reality is in terms of sitting together and seeing what the way forward is.

“Of course, one of our main concerns is the issue of the debt repayments, we need to see how we can smooth them so that we don’t default again which will be more catastrophic than that currently defaulting.”

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Reacting to this on his X page, Prof Steve Hanke said “GhanaWatch: President-elect Mahama wants to renegotiate Ghana’s IMF deal for ‘radical changes’ to smooth loan payments.

“Here we go again. More Ghanaian incompetence.”

#GhanaWatch: President-elect Mahama wants to renegotiate Ghana’s IMF deal for “RADICAL CHANGES” to smooth loan payments.

HERE WE GO AGAIN.

More Ghanaian INCOMPETENCE. pic.twitter.com/9Dx3UQudyV

— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) December 26, 2024

The post Be patient, Mahama has not yet been sworn into office – Joe Jackson tells Steve Hanke first appeared on 3News.

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