Expectations from Ghanaians prior to the 2020 budget Reading

By Christabella Arko, GNA

Accra, Nov. 12, GNA - The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will on Wednesday present the 2020 budget to Ghana’s parliament in accordance with Article 179 of the 1992 Constitution.

This proposals will seek to make projections for economic policy, consolidate economic gains achieved so far and seek approval for public expenditure.

With this, a cross section of Ghanaians in the capital, Accra, had indicated their expectations in the budget statement to be presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister.

In an interview conducted by the Ghana News Agency, most of the citizenry sampled expressed satisfaction whilst, others however expressed dissatisfaction at the performance of the government so far and called on the President to quicken the pace of development projects promised them, including the One District, One Factory, programme.

Madam Regina Amegashie, a trader in Accra, said the Free Senior High School policy was by far a very good initiative by government but  expressed disappointment as to how the management of these Senior High Schools implemented the programme.

“The free SHS policy is so far one of the best policies in recent times, but let's be realistic, the government says it's free but when we go to the schools, we pay huge amounts of monies and its frustrating parents, is it that the monies allocated to the free SHS don't reflect in the schools? This issue must be addressed by the finance minister on Wednesday," she said

Mr. Isaac Amankwah, a Software Developer, expects the 2020 Budget to address issues concernig government's flagship programs such as the free SHS, One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, fuel prices, Health Sector amongst others.

He said, he hoped government commented on how to sustain the free SHS looking at the huge numbers benefitting from it and what measures they had put in place to gradually do away with the double track system.

Mr Amankwah added that, as medical doctors had threatened to strike in the coming week, he expected government through the Finance Minister to address the issue so that they call off the action.

On corruption, Mr. Kweku Amoako, a Mobile Money Merchant, expected the government to adequately resource the appropriate agencies to fight the menace.

"Every now and then we hear a case of corruption in the news, I'm expecting the minister to tell us how they are going about it and  amount they have allocated to the special prosecutor to work with", he exclaimed.

Madam Afua Buckman, a National Service Personnel, said she was hoping for the government to enroll National Service personnel's onto the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme after their service year.

She said in essence, she expected government to migrate the immediate past National Service Personnel onto the program where it would be easier for them to be employed thereby reducing the rate of unemployment in the long run.

Mr Glory Tetteh, a taxi driver, said the year had been rough especially with the increment of the Communication Service Tax to 9%, adding that he expected the government to reduce it in the budget.

He said as a Ghanaian, he would like the Finance Minister to touch on strategies that would ensure that prices of goods and services decreased starting with petrol and foodstuffs since "we are approaching Christmas".

Madam Patricia Naana Gyampoh, an unemployed graduate, told the Ghana News Agency that he expected ‘nothing’ from Wednesday's budget.

“For now, I have no expectation from Wednesday’s budget because I believe it will be the same old story."

She said the government always allocated huge sums of monies for projects in budgets but Ghanaians do not seem to notice such projects.

GNA

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