A Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Kwaku Kwarteng, has pooh-poohed government's request for an additional Ghc1.89 billion as supplementary budget for the rest of the year 2016, saying after cutting expenditure in various sectors of the economy, government has no justification for the extra money.
Finance Minister Seth Terkper, on Monday asked Parliament to approve a supplementary budget of Ghc1.8 billion to run some programmes and policies for the rest of the year, 2016.
The request, according to Mr. Terkper, has been necessitated by the huge shortfalls in revenue generation.
But the Obuasi West MP questioned where the extra money will come from, considering that businesses are already suffering from the effects of high taxes and inadequate power supply.
Below are Mr. Kwarteng's 7 points on the supplementary budget
1. At the beginning of 2016, government sought parliamentary approval to spend some GH¢50 billion on government business. That was granted.
2. On 25th July 2016, government went to Parliament to say that they are broke, and things are not going well so they need approval to do the following: a. Reduce pension payments to old men and women, and reduce gratuities and social security payments by GH¢293 million. b. Reduce capital expenditure by some GH¢284 million. That is to say, government is seeking to reduce spending on roads, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure projects by GH¢284 million. c. Reduce spending on the provision of goods and services to Ghanaians by GH¢410 million. That is to say, money to buy chalk for basic schools, sanitation services, etc will all be slashed by GH¢410 million. d. Reduce transfer into the National Health Fund by GH¢19.6 million.
3. After reducing all these services to Ghanaians, government says they will still have problems unless Parliament approved for them an additional GH¢1.89 billion on top of the money given them at the start of 2016.4. Where will this additional money come from? Government says that the money will come from the energy sector levies. But that will still not be enough, so they will go and borrow to make up the difference.
5. In spite of all these, there is no assurance in the supplementary budget as to when 'dumsor' will end so that businesses can operate smoothly and create jobs. There is no assurance that the high electricity tariffs will go down. There is no assurance that lending rates will come down so that businesses can borrow and expand to create jobs. There is no assurance that cost of living will go down. There is nothing!
6. Yet, in this same supplementary budget, government praises itself for turning the lives of Ghanaians round!
7. This is what it has come to.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie
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