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A Presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has declared that the government took a wrong route by going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In his view, the solution to the ailing economy could be found through good housekeeping ideas and effective home-grown economic policies. Mr Asamoah Boateng, who is also known as Asabee, said this during question time at his maiden press conference in Accra on Wednesday, after he had toured the whole country on a campaign trail to elicit support to become the flag bearer of the NPP for the 2016 general election. He declared: �Government could have consulted home and armed itself with solid knowledge and consolidation of ideas before running to the IMF. Simply put, if you don�t have money, you don�t spend,� he told the media. He said the government�s explanation that it was the middle-income status of the country that precipitated the economic meltdown was not convincing enough. He said the economic managers of the country sould have anticipated that the country had moved from a developing country to a middle-income one and taken measures to sustain the middle-income status. He added that the mindset of the government was, therefore, completely wrong, since that mindset was likely to send the country back to the �stone age.� Mr Asamoah Boateng said what was required was to modernise and add value to agriculture so that the country would stop exporting cocoa beans and minerals without adding value to them. Mr Asamoah Boateng stated that by thinking outside the box, the government could put premium on rapid mass transport network with emphasis on rail-road linkages and pursue industrialisation with a strong indigenous presence. Mr Asamoah also called for the introduction of a new development plan to be called Volta-Oti Basin Development Plan to harness the resources of the two great rivers for rapid socio-economic development. He said when elected as leader, he would pay special attention to youth development, training and create opportunities for decent and well-paid jobs. He further stated that he would pay attention to mothers and their young children concerning their health care and quality education for the youth. He said that would enable them to contribute meaningfully to the reconstruction of the country based on home-grown ideas so that the economy could be stable and sustainable without looking always to development partners for economic bailout.