A former Deputy Information Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has questioned the “sudden silence” of Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, on the current state of the country’s economy.

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr Ofosu says the once vociferous Dr Bawumia is conscious of the state of the ailing economy and is trying his best to avoid talking about it.

“He has completely disappeared from the economics team. He has gone into hiding, and he is avoiding discourse on the economy like a plague.

“He doesn’t want to touch it with a long pole. He doesn’t want to take responsibility for the mess that he has supervised,” he said.

Mr Ofosu further asked government to be more forthcoming with its plan to resuscitate the economy.

He quizzed, “If you say you don’t want to go to the IMF, what is the credible plan that you have to ensure that confidence returns to the economy and that we do not collapse?”

He also rubbished government’s response to the recent rating agencies’ assessment of the economy.

The government, for instance, did not agree with the ratings from Fitch and Moody’s, which tagged Ghana as unstable and regressing.

However, Mr Ofosu retorted that “if two of them give you a very grim, very dire, very gloomy outlook, I’m not sure if there is anything to be proud of.”

In one of its arguments, the government said the downgrade by Moody’s was underpinned by a lack of groundwork by its Lead Analyst.

But Mr Ofosu retorted that “this is the most ridiculous and embarrassing excuse I have ever heard any government make about a downgrade.”

“Data is data, and nobody has to travel from Paris or London to Accra to obtain it,” he added.