Haruna Iddrisu
THE Minority NDC in Parliament has started a new “fight” that the NPP government tampered with figures in the 2021 Budget and Economic Policy Statement presented to Parliament on Friday, March 12, 2021.
The NDC MPs, led by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, claimed during a press conference yesterday that the government through the Finance Ministry misinformed the House regarding the debt figures “in order to project a good performance of the economy when in fact the true situation is not as rosy.”
In May last year, the NDC made a similar claim to put the government in bad light but it failed to fly when the Country Director of IMF, Dr. Albert Touna Mama, cleared the then Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, of the politicized accusations.
In the latest accusation, the NDC MPs indicated that “we note some misreporting, misclassifications and below the line treatment of some government expenditure which is deliberately misreported.”
He added that they had always cautioned the government against “below the line fiscal maneuvering to give a wrong impression contrary to the real situation.”
According to Mr. Iddrisu, the current fiscal framework as reported in the budget statement was a deliberate attempt by the government to “mislead Parliament, the investor community, civil society organisations and the general public at large,” saying “wrong and misleading impressions have been created that Ghana is undergoing fiscal consolidation and as a result, there has not been enough pressure on the government to be fiscally prudent.”
New Taxes
The Tamale South MP stated that the Minority also found the timing for the imposition of the taxes and levies problematic and unjustified, and argued that “we need a post COVID-19 recovery to improve the performance of the economy, improve livelihoods, and create new opportunities for jobs to address unemployment.”
He said the NDC MPs also recommended increases in stimulus for businesses such as hospitality and pharmaceuticals, and added that “the imposition of eight new taxes and levies by the Akufo-Addo government were unjustifiable because the private sector is struggling to stay on its feet following the negative impact of COVID-19.”
According to him, already the government has increased prices of petroleum products by over 11 per cent since the beginning of the year, and “it is, therefore, unconscionable to attempt to impose additional levies on fuel prices at this critical moment.”
“The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has once again demonstrated that it is not only insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians but has also run out of ideas in the management of the Ghanaian economy.”
Even more disturbing, the Minority Leader said it was the fact that Parliament recently approved a 20 pesewas per litre on fuel and another eight pesewas on LPG to cater for energy sector related payments, saying “it therefore comes as a shock, the latest attempt to increase yet again the prices of petroleum products at the pump for the same reason. The insensitive Akufo-Addo government clearly is oblivious of the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian and is concerned with a narrow interest of government.”
Public Debt
Mr. Iddrisu said currently Ghana had a rising public debt making it a debt distress country, and said the country’s total public debt increased from GH¢120.4 billion at end-December 2016 to GH¢291.6 billion at end-December 2020, and pointed out “a whopping GH¢171.2 billion increase in four years.”
“In terms of the distribution of the accumulated debt by respective governments since 2001, the first four years of Akufo-Addo’s government has accumulated 60%, followed by the four years of John Mahama’s government, 29%; the four years of Atta Mills/Mahama’s government, nine per cent; and eight years of Kufuor’s government, two per cent (courtesy of the HIPC and MDRI Debt Reliefs).”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House