Former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kumbungu constituency, Ras Mubarak has lamented the severity of the economic hardship Ghanaians are currently going through after he joined a public commercial vehicle in Accra.
The National Democratic Congress ex-lawmaker decided to abandon his personal cars to join a commercial vehicle to “gauge public opinion”.
After the experience, Mubarak concluded that the gravity of the economic hardship Ghanaians are enduring is unbearable.
“I picked trotro (public transport) as I often do to gauge public opinion. Ghanaians are going through unbearable hardships,” Ras Mubarak wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday, November 6.
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A day before he made the Facebook post, he had joined hundreds of other Ghanaians to demonstrate against the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party government’s mismanagement of the country’s economy, calling for the resignation of the president and his Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
The protest dubbed ‘Kume Preko’ to wit kill me at once, saw Ghanaians from various parts of the country converge on Accra, the national capital to walk through the principal streets to register their displeasure about the prevailing economic crisis.
Ghana is currently unable to pay its internal and external debts and is struggling to meet other financial obligations.
Several international rating agencies have downgraded the economy, reducing investor confidence and leaving it in a junk state.
The depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the United States dollar and other major trading currencies has led to prices of goods and services, including fuel and transport fares skyrocketing incessantly, making survival difficult for Ghanaians.
Currently, the government is banking its hopes on ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help to save the sinking economy with among other things, a $3 billion bailout fund.
On Sunday, October 30, President Akufo-Addo addressed the nation and outlined measures his government intends to implement to rescue the economy. But Ghanaians and many analysts say the measures are not convincing.