Does this budget inspire hope?: Analysing Mahama’s budget vis-a-vis campaign promises

Preamble:
In the lead up to the 2024 elections, then candidate John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress embarked on arguably one of the most issued based political campaigns since 1992. The NDC flagbearer was precise and concise in delivering his message. He promised to abolish taxes the NDC believed were unnecessary but detrimental to the general living condition of the ordinary citizen.

Consequently, the NDC won the elections “decisively” as stated by the then Vice President and the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Muhamadu Bawumia. In view of the scale of the victory and the confidence reposed in President John Dramani Mahama, Ghanaians are anticipating nothing but a fulfilment of the promises the NDC made. The government’s Minister of Finance Dr. Cassiel Atto Forson has presented the government’s budget for the year 2025 to 2025. This articles seeks to analyse the content of the budget in relation to the promises to ascertain whether the budget inspires hope or not.

The Promises:
The NDC promised to scrap the numerous taxes such as the controversial E-Levy, betting tax, emission levy on industries and vehicles, Covid-19 levy, VAT on motor vehicle insurance and tax on unprocessed gold by small-scale miners. The NDC also promised to introduced Free first year tuition fee for tertiary education, introduce a 24-Hour economy to address the unemployment challenges, stabilise the local currency, introduce the Big Push programme among others. These were all captured in the NDC’s manifesto for the 2024 election. Then candidate Mahama took his time and explained the importance of scrapping these taxes and the NDC’s policies will help in resetting the country to the Ghana we all want.

The 2025 Budget:
Whiles presenting the 2025 budget statement to the parliament, the finance minister Dr. Cassiel Atto Forson announced that, government has abolished the 1% E-Levy, the 10% Batting tax, the 1.5% withholding tax on unprocessed gold by small-scale miners, the Covid-19 levy, emission levy on industries and vehicles and the VAT on motor vehicle insurance, all in fulfilment of the campaign promises towards building a Ghana we all want.

He also announced that, the government have allocated GHC 13.85 billion for the implementation of the Big Push programme, the government will also eliminate academic fees for first year tertiary students starting from September 2025, free tertiary education for all People With Disability (PWD). The government has also allocated funding for the delivery of “Mahama Cares Programme” to finance the treatment of non-communicable diseases. The government is also committed to delivering the much anticipated 24-Hour economy, the finance minister added in his budget presentation.

Assessment:
With all intent and purposes and in view of the content of the 2025 budget, it is obvious that, the budget has met the threshold of fulfilled promises. The budget has captured all the promises made by the then candidate Mahama with the government’s commitment to implement all. The abolishment of the numerous taxes as captured in the budget is an indication of fulfilled promises on the part of the governing NDC.

Verdict:
In view of the budget’s ability to capture almost all the promises upon which the NDC won the 2024 elections with sustainable source of funding for the programmes, the verdict is that, the 2025 budget inspires hope and will lead to economic growth. Foreign investors will have a renewed sense of hope in the country and start investing in Ghana.

Conclusion:
The budget is comprehensive, it covers all sectors of the Ghanaian economy, ranging from education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, human capital, housing, environmental and technological advancement. This budget signifies the beginning of the good things Ghanaians can patiently expect in the next four years.