Dr. Gideon Boako
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North, Dr. Gideon Boako, has criticised what he describes as inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the 2026 Budget, accusing the Finance Minister of presenting misleading figures.
In his debate contribution on the floor of Parliament, he questioned why the budget claimed GH¢63 billion had been spent on the ‘Big Push’ initiative when, according to official appendices, the expenditure was far lower.
“If you present your budget with a blatant falsehood… why won’t they be unhappy with you?” he asked.
Dr. Boako argued that the discrepancies undermine trust and frustrate ministries whose budgeted allocations were never honoured.
“If you programmed to spend an amount on education and you end up giving them less, why won’t they be unhappy?” he queried, pointing to similar issues in the roads and teacher trainee education sectors.
He also criticised the government for allocating insufficient resources for infrastructure development, especially roads.
“If you programmed to release funds for roads infrastructure and you end up giving my good senior Agbodza a paltry amount, why won’t he be angry?” he said.
The MP highlighted how teacher trainees were suffering due to inadequate funding for their feeding.
“If you end up releasing just a pittance, denying the trainees the opportunity of a three-square meal a day, why won’t the Hon. Haruna Iddrisu be angry?” he added.
He urged the Finance Minister to be transparent and consistent with budget figures to restore confidence.
“The safest ship is the one anchored at the port, but the best ship is the one set on sail. Ghana’s economic ship must set sail now,” he said.
He warned that several unresolved issues threaten the country’s economic direction.
“There are many grey areas that need to be looked at properly before the budget can deliver sustainable outcomes,” he pointed out
Dr. Boako argued that some of the measures proposed in the budget may not yield the intended results, particularly in the area of tax administration.
He said the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) at the ports, though innovative in appearance, risks becoming another loophole for corruption if not carefully monitored.
“We must ensure that the deployment of this AI technology does not become a profiteering opportunity for nation wreckers,” he cautioned.
The MP also criticised the Finance Minister for adopting a posture that mocked previous administrations for missing targets, only to miss several macro-fiscal targets himself within a year.
“Barely one year down the line, how does Minister Ato Forson feel when he has also significantly missed most of his macro-fiscal targets?” he asked, adding that nearly 50 percent of projections in the 2025 Budget were not achieved.
According to Dr. Boako, even the targets the government claims to have met suffer from weak foundations.
He noted inconsistencies in the inflation strategy and questioned whether the tools deployed to achieve single-digit inflation were sustainable.