Minority: Budget is 419

  By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House The Minority in Parliament has described the inaugural budget statement of the Akufo-Addo-led government as a ‘419 budget’ which gives no hope to the ordinary Ghanaian. According to them, the budget was more of campaign promises, though elections are overs. and the ruling government was to focus on shaping […]

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By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House

The Minority in Parliament has described the inaugural budget statement of the Akufo-Addo-led government as a ‘419 budget’ which gives no hope to the ordinary Ghanaian.

According to them, the budget was more of campaign promises, though elections are overs. and the ruling government was to focus on shaping the economy as it promised in the build up to the 2016 general elections.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, yesterday, presented to Parliament, on the authority of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the budget statement and economic policy of the government for the 2017 financial year.

The budget, christened ‘Asempa’ (Good News) budget by the Finance Minister, met two counter names from the opposition – ‘419’ and ‘Kasapa’ (Good Talk).

In an interview with some members of the opposition, they revealed that the budget could not meet the expectations of the Minority members of Parliament (MPs), though there was a commendation in relation to the abolishment of the duty on the importation of spare parts.

The MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, described the 15,875-worded budget statement by Mr Ofori-Atta as ‘scanty’.

Speaking in an interview with this reporter after the statement had been read, the former Deputy Education Minister noted that the budget only gave the impression that the focus was only on free Senior High School (SHS), adding that he thought it would cover the Basic and Senior High schools.

“The budget was scanty, so far as the education sector is concerned, and that’s why I want to wait for the full budget. But what was read today, one got the impression the focus is only on free SHS. I thought that it would cover Basic and Senior High.

“…Very scanty, nothing on expanding access, nothing on quality education and incentives for teachers. Technical vocation was omitted. I’m also not convinced about the spending conundrum, because the Minister mentioned ABFA and other domestic revenue sources. If you say other domestic sources, what are those domestic sources? He didn’t tell us. Because, already you said you’re going to cut down on GETFund, you’re going to cut down other statutory payments, so what do we have so far as secured funding source is concerned?

“We are not assured of a sustained reliable funding source. It looks as a rehash of campaign promises; and then also the dishonesty. If you take for example, the one village one dam, Ghanaians were made to understand that is a separate promise on its own. One million one constituency, we were made to understand that that was a separate promise on its own. Then the development authority, we were made to understand that that was a separate promise. Today, we are being told that the one million one constituency covers all these. That is not what Ghanaians were told, be honest, be candid with the people,” he noted.

Also, MP for Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam, Cassiel Ato Forson, expressed his disappointment over the reduction in the District Assembly Common Fund, citing that it could best be termed as ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.

The former Deputy Minister of Finance, further expressed shock, in an exclusive interview with this paper, over the side effects of the abolishment of the duty on the importation of spare parts. He said Ghana is going to become dumping grounds for over aged cars.

“The spare parts are going to come in cheap. The emissions that me and you are going to suffer, health wise, is going to be high. Tax policy is not only for revenue, it is to shape the way me and you do business. In terms of the revenue, it is over stated, you heard what he said, he said long term revenue is going to yield GH?1.6 billion. He was quick to add divestiture, which of the state’s assets is he going to sell?

“He is going to sell our assets that is; what he is going to do to fill in the revenue loopholes? He said he’s going to list them on the stock exchange, didn’t you hear him? Please, when they read budget, don’t only look at the headline numbers, look at the detail, the detail is what am telling you. In terms of the expenditure, he has cut the statutory fund, but how much, 25% of total revenue. That statutory fund was going to areas of the economy, infrastructure, today you heard what he said? He is scrapping them, and when he scraps them, that money is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. If you decide to reduce the District Assembly Common Fund from 7.5% of total revenue to 5% of total revenue, that change of 2.5% of total revenue is huge.

“He is giving it back to the assemblies, and by telling them that he is giving it to them under one million one constituency that is not good enough. That is not even robbing Peter to pay Paul, but robbing Peter to pay Peter. They think they are too smart, we are smarter. Ghanaians should be ready for a difficult long term under this administration, because they signaled nothing. Let me bet you, by the end year 2017, what will happen, they will come and tell us that they could not meet the deficit of 6.5%. I am betting by the end this year, they will sell state assets,” he opined.

On his part, the MP for Yapei/Kusawgu, John Abdulai Jinapor, spoke to this paper from the energy point of view, stating that he felt vindicated for saying that the NPP government could not scrap the energy levy.

“From the energy point of view, it is obvious that the energy levy is intact; it is not going to be scrapped as promised. It is obvious that VAT on non-residential consumers is not going to be scrapped as promised, and so if consumers were expecting a certain reduction in their electricity sales, let me assure you that from what the Minister presented, we are not going to see a reduction in electricity sales. We should rather be bracing up for a possible increase in tariffs, because, as I speak with you, the cedi has been depreciated against the dollar significantly.

“It means that when you buy power, you need more cedis to pay for the same amount of power produced. So, if they had taken away the levies, or probably taken away VAT on energy sales, we would have been making some savings, but from what the Minister said, it is quite obvious, it is quite clear that the levies are going to remain, and also, we the ordinary consumers probably have to brace up. I said it, I said it, look, you can’t just take away the levy.

“President Mahama was castigated. President Mahama was described as a man with the heart of the devil, just because of these levies. The NPP promised us that they will scrap the levies, as we speak today; it is obvious, it is abundantly clear that the levies are not going to be removed, and that the levies are here to stay, and so clearly, I feel vindicated. I believe that the decision at that time was a prudent one. I believe that the decision we took at that time was sincere, wise and transparent decision. We were vilified, but today, we feel vindicated.”

Mr. John Jinapor, however, commended the NPP government for abolishing duty on the importation of spare parts, citing that “we must be sincere, we must be frank, I commend them.”

John Boadu

Meanwhile, the Acting General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, told this paper, in response to the description by the minority (Kasapa), that if the opposition describes the budget as Kasapa, it means it is a well thought out and good communicated-to budget. He remarked that it means that it is a very good budget.

“The summing up from the Minister of Finance is that you have 5 ways of revenue to feed 25 plus million citizens of our country, based on that we will be able to reduce the budget deficit that stood at around 9% to 6.5%. We are going to be able to, with this gap, we will fulfil our pledges of one district one factory, we are going to be able to provide one village one dam, we are going to be able to give one million dollars to each constituency.

“We are increasing GDP from a paltry 3.5% to 6.5%, and this is something that you cannot get, unless you have a government that wants to solve the difficulty of the country, and not just pay lip service. Consider all the measures we put in place to curb corruption. This thing about sole sourcing, where it was used as an avenue the economy of our country…So you can clearly see that the opposition themselves were happy with the budget, because they couldn’t have done it.”

According to him, the minority “are so amazed. They are so confused that the resources they couldn’t manage is going to be managed by Nana Addo, because of trust and honesty.”

Furthermore, Mr. Francis Kinsley Ato Cudjoe could not, but shower praises on the ruling government, of which he belongs, for taking into consideration the ordinary Ghanaian, whose living conditions need improvement.

He spoke about the flagship programmes of the government, particularly the free SHS, one million dollars for each constituency amongst the rest, stating that it would really solve lots of problems.

He also added that a good and visionary government is the one which is able to implement programmes that targets the local people, and that is what this government seeks to do.

“The free SHS, one million, one constituency, one village one dam, one district one factory. Those are things that are targeting my local people, and these are social programmes that will benefit everyone.”

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