Budget review: You don’t drink from empty calabash – Haruna Iddrisu replies Ofori-Atta

•Ken Ofori-Atta says government will not request for new funds and also introduce new taxes

•Haruna Iddrisu responded that the government has emptied the public purse

•He also disclosed that the government's plan now is to seek debt reliefs

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has disclosed that the Akufo-Addo administration is banking its hopes on debt forgiveness after it had emptied the state coffers.

According to him, the government is now focused on seeking relief from multilateral organizations and bilateral partners the country owes.

He said that the government could not make demands for extra funds in the mid-year budget review present on July 29, 2021 by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, because there exists no money in the public purse.

“I am very confident that the minister’s hope and the hope of the president now is debt relief and debt forgiveness.

“You don’t drink water from an empty calabash, so we can understand why he is not here to ask for money,” the Minority Leader noted.

He also sought to find out from the government when the Chief Executives of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies will be appointed.

“No boards in place, no chief executives in place, no DCEs [District Chief Executives] in place. What will you ask for more money for?” he quizzed.

Haruna Iddrisu was addressing Parliament after Ken Ofori-Atta’s mid-year budget review statement.

Ken Ofori-Atta said that government will not request for more money to fund its activities and also assured that government will also not introduce new taxes.

"Mr Speaker, I'm not here today to ask for more money. I have not come to ask for more taxes," he said.

He however disclosed that government will in the next three years create one million job opportunities for the youth.

“As has been well-publicized, a few days ago, the Ministry of Finance granted financial clearance to the Ministry of Education and the security services for the recruitment of some 11,800 people to beef up their operations. It does not end there. We will through interventions to be set out in the mid-year budget review announce plans for the creation of some one million more jobs under the Ghana CARES ‘Obaatampa’ project over the course of the next 3 years.

“We are determined to pursue our agenda for jobs creation in order to give opportunities for our youth to nurture their talents for the development of our country,” he added.

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