By A. A. Yayra
After suffering harsh criticisms from men of God and sections of the Ghanaian public for mocking Archbishop Duncan Williams? prayer for the ?Cedi to rise?, ambassador designate for the Netherlands, Dr Tony Aidoo says he is an ardent believer in God and prayers and he daily communicates with his creator.
The former Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation in the Mills government, said though many have tagged him antichrist who abhors prayers, his daily communications with the Maker has never been in doubt, adding ?every morning when I wake up, I pray to God?.
Rendering what could be described as an abridge version of his daily morning devotion on Radio Gold?s Saturday morning political talk show, Alhaji & Alhaji, Dr Tony Aidoo in an unusual spiritual mood thrilled listeners with how he prays every morning, ?Oh God forgive us our sins; have mercy on us for we are sinners, and I do that about 10 or 20 times.
The former Deputy Defence Minister in the Rawlings government incurred the wrath of the Christian society when he described prayers for the ?Cedi to rise? by the General Overseer of the Action Chapel Internal as ?comic relief? and went ahead to chastise religion, which he said has become the refuge for the lazy minds.
His comment attracted harsh replies from the Christian community out of which the General Secretary of the Association of Charismatic Churches, Rev Titi Offei was quoted in the media as saying “Political leaders believe in the power of prayers when in opposition, but when they win, they question the same power that brought them to power.?
But explaining his position in a discussion on the fast depreciating Cedi on Radio Gold, Dr Aidoo said he has nothing against the man of God, saying that the problem he had with his prayer was the use of the word ?I command? the cedi to rise.
Providing an insight into the current economic quagmire in Ghana which has greatly affected the local currency, the ambassador designate in his usual critical thoughts, said measures introduced by the Bank of Ghana to arrest the fall of the cedi are ?panicky?.
He advised the BoG to adapt a balance approach, by tackling the misuse of demand with an increase in supply ”… by tackling the fundamental issue of the few economic actors actually creating the supply, and the majority of economic actors demanding the limited supply.”
The BoG last week announced measures to fight the depreciation of the Cedi to major international currencies. Among the measures was to ban commercial banks and other financial institutions from issuing cheques and cheque books on foreign accounts and foreign currency accounts.
Among other things, it has also directed that no bank should grant a foreign currency-denominated loan or foreign currency ?linked facility to a customer who is not a foreign currency earner.
But Dr Aidoo posited that BoG measures are ??panicky?? because they deal with only one side of the problem, ”the demand side of the problem,? explaining that the Cedi is falling because of the shortage of dollars and foreign currency, relative to the demand, which is on the high.
”… if you restore equilibrium by constraining demand without any measures that increase the supply, what you have created is that you have just constrained the volume or the quantum of foreign currency within a strait jacket, within the period of time the demand will rise again,” he added.
