The 2008 Campaign Committee for Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum the presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in a statement issued in Accra has asked Mr. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to resign.

"The finance minister must find credible solutions - he is the financial advisor to the NPP administration - to government's money problems...If he cannot do it and the president will not replace him, then he should do the honourable thing resign", said the statement which was issued at a press conference on Tuesday.

The statement said the minister was one of the politicians who berated the NDC administration in 1999 and 2000 for its inability to deal with "external shocks".

Baah Wiredu, the statement claimed "is now blaming his inability to deal effectively with finances of government on external shocks and wants to sell GT to pay for his shortcomings...Did we go or did we come, NDC and NPP? Selling an important national asset such as GT and the national fibtre-optic system to fill a big hole in the budget caused by all manner of spending that is not necessarily productive is wrong."

The CPP statement said, "Under his watch Hon. Baah Wiredu has managed inflation to near 20% and will certainly exceed it by the end of the year, interest rates paid by small businesses and workers on loans now exceed 35%."

The New Ghana Cedi, said the statement, "is losing value, road contractors have stopped working because they are not getting paid...many contractors and suppliers are owed significant sums of many...Ghana at 50 suppliers and contractors are complaining of debt owed to them, yet the revenue agencies report record revenue collections, or are these reports designed to fool the public?"

The statement asked: "If the sale of Ghana Telecom was advertised in the 2005 budget, what took his government so long in bringing the detail of the transaction to the knowledge of the public? When did the administration receive a valuation of GT?

How much was it valued at and who did it? We demand that the document be made public and for the public to be told which cabinet meeting was furnished with the information and as a result approved the sale at the price offered by Vodafone. Indeed, when did his administration give parliament the details of his transaction?"

The CPP's call for the resignation of the Minister is in reference to reports that he has asked critics of the Vodafone deal to provide alternatives within 24 hours or keep their silence.

The statement urged all Ghanaians to rise against the proposed sale of GT. "The CPP is against the sale and urges all Ghanaians to fight against it...Ghanaians want change and for good reasons. The Minister of Finance just gave Ghanaians a few more reasons to vote for the CPP - for change we can feel in our pockets."