Economist and Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana, Godfred A. Bokpin, says the cedi, and its fluctuations is not a tool to be used in political campaigns.

Commenting on the cedi depreciation on Joy News’ Newsfile, Saturday, he stated that the cedi has been depreciating since its introduction as a legal tender in the country, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

According to Professor Bokpin, the Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia’s gimmick of arresting the dollar and stabilising the cedi was an overstatement.

 “A certain exaggeration of the ability to do something was at play that is common knowledge now.

“When you’re in opposition the way you see something is different and when you’re in power, the way things play out is different,” he said.

However, Professor Bokpin admitted that despite the Vice President’s theory to salvage the dollar has not been fruitful as expected, it might be due to the fact that the theory could not efficiently fit into the local Ghanaian system.

“Sometimes the theory doesn’t work the way it is expected, and the reason is not that the theory is wrong, but because the assumptions cannot be validated within the context.”

He argued that Dr Bawumia’s lectures and strategies while in opposition, also gave Ghanaians something to think about, a strategy that has sadly not been adopted by the current opposition party, NDC.

Godfred A. Bokpin further attributed the rapid depreciation of the cedi to the Central Bank’s attempt to build its foreign reserves without any market intervention to control depreciation.

“I sense that the Bank of Ghana from the middle of last year perhaps was thinking of building its international reserves maybe looking forward to 2020 which is rather the election year where the exposure is high and therefore perhaps did not do market intervention, maybe to steer the depreciation within a certain gap because they were looking forward.”

But he was quick to add that it was not an outlier, taking a  look at the last eight years.

Professor Bokpin added that the use of the cedi’s fluctuations in politics, however, will lead to people holding politicians accountable for the solutions they propose while in opposition and their ability to succeed when given the power.

“We are getting to the stage where we can conclude that politicians will have to be measured in terms of what they seek to offer and their ability to do it. But whether it is the NPP or the NDC, the reality on the ground is that you cannot do politics with the cedi.”