Seasoned journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr has hit out at the Mahama government for allowing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to vet Ghana's budget, despite government's "loud claims" that Ghana has exited the IMF programme.

In a commentary ahead of the presentation of the 2027 budget in Parliament yesterday, Pratt was left "seriously worried" and "alarmed" after reports that the IMF had approved the budget before it was presented to Ghanaians.

"The budget which is going to be announced tomorrow evening. I was so seriously worried. Why? This is our budget. This is Ghana's budget. And before the budget is released we are told that the IMF has approved it," Pratt said on Metro TV's "Good Morning Ghana".

He challenged the government's exit from the $3 billion IMF programme under the previous Akufo-Addo government, asking why the Mahama government, which had publicly celebrated the conclusion of the programme, would submit the nation's most important economic document to the IMF for approval.

"At the time when we are boasting about exiting the IMF programme, if you have exited the IMF programme, why are we submitting our budget to IMF for approval?" he queried.

Pratt said the IMF's own commentary on the budget exposed the contradiction, noting that the Fund claimed to know "what the effect is going to be, they know how much resources are going to be generated and so on".

"Who is in charge? Is it the IMF? Is it our Ministry of Finance? I'm confused. We are either under an IMF programme or we are not," he fumed.

The Insight newspaper managing editor warned that Ghana is creating a dangerous situation where the IMF has become the institution "telling us what to do, is approving what we think and so on".

He reminded the Mahama government of Ghana's painful history with the Fund, stressing the country has been to the IMF 18 times and each return has been worse.

"...we do know we've been there eighteen times. Every time we've come out, it's been more disastrous than before we went there. So, what's this reliance on the IMF?" Pratt lamented.

Pratt also took issue with the Fund's claim that it had met government officials and was "happy" with what government intends to do, questioning who the budget is meant to satisfy.

"And the IMF is telling us that they've met government officials, government has told them what they're going to do and they're happy with it. Is it the IMF who should be happy with our budget or the people of Ghana?"

He concluded with a call for Ghana to break free from IMF control stressing "I was very alarmed when you were reading that report, just very alarming. You understand? We want the IMF off our backs, at least for a change".