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Felix Kwakye Ofosu, spokesperson for President John Dramani Mahama and Minister of State for Government Communications, has refuted claims by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the current administration is only able to meet debt obligations due to financial buffers left by the previous government.
Former Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam had asserted that the NPP government strategically built reserves in Ghana’s Debt Reserves Accounts to sustain debt servicing. His comments followed President Mahama’s directive to Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson to ensure the fourth coupon payment to Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bondholders. The Karaga MP maintained that while the NDC government is taking credit for the payment, it was made possible by financial mechanisms already put in place by the former administration.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, February 19, Kwakye Ofosu rejected this assertion, describing it as misleading. “Subsequent to the announcement of these payments and the announcement that the sinking fund has been reactivated, we have had some rebuttals from the NPP whose officials have claimed that we have been able to do that as a government only because they left some buffers and that it is not because of any specific intervention from President John Mahama. I wish to place on record that this narrative is untrue,” he stated.
He explained that the sinking fund, officially known as the debt service reserve account, holds funds meant for bondholders and creditors. It includes both cedi and dollar components, with account statements reflecting financial transactions over time. Challenging the NPP’s claim, Kwakye Ofosu insisted they must provide concrete proof. “For officials of the former government to be able to say that these payments and honoring of these obligations have been the outcome of work they did, they need to point specifically where those buffers were located,” he argued.
He highlighted that as of October 22, 2024, under the NPP government, the account held a balance of just $64,387—far below the GHS6 billion required for payments. In contrast, by January 31, 2025, the NDC administration, under Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, had deposited $96,915,182 into the account. “If you look at the cedi-denominated reserve account, you will find also that when the NDC took over on January 7, 2025, the last time that anything had happened in that account before the NPP left was January 2, 2025. The amount of money in that account was GHS155,463,435,” he added.
He further revealed that an additional GHS9 billion has been set aside in the fund to cover maturing coupons in July and August, bringing the total available to GHS15 billion.
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