Government Defends Transition Budget

Mrs Zita Sabah Okaikoi The government has defended the amount spent on the Transition Team, saying that although the members of the team worked for two and a half months, they were paid only a month’s allowances.

In addition, it said a 20 per cent reduction across board, excluding transport and lodging allowances, was applied.

Mrs Zita Sabah Okaikoi, the Minister of Information, who clarified the issues on behalf of the government, said the expeditious manner in which the total amount was disclosed and the size of the amount spent itself were indications of the Mills administration’s commitment to transparency and abhorrence of profligate expenditure.

She was reacting to media reports that the amount of GH¢361,924.41 spent on the process was on the high side.

She told the Daily Graphic that “the members who came from far and near worked for two and a half months, with others staying till midnight but decided to take allowance for only a month to save cost for the nation”.

She explained that the expenditure incurred on the team was in four categories, namely, honoraria, refreshment, hiring of office equipment and stationery.

She said the honoraria paid to members of the team were in the following categories; chairman, GH¢2,250; two supporting staff at GH¢1,800 each (GH¢3,600); seven subcommittee chairmen at GH¢1,800 each (GH¢12,600) and 141 members at GH¢1,350 each (GH¢190,350), bringing the total to GH¢208,800.

She said the total cost of the hiring of office equipment was GH¢15,024.01, while the expenditure on stationery (pens, paper clips, file covers, note pads and A-4 paper, among others, amounted to GH¢2,784.10.

“Unlike the members of the former government who as at today could not disclose the exact amount the state had spent on the construction of the uncompleted Jubilee House and Ghana@50, the NDC had been able to make a full disclosure to the people of Ghana.

Concerning the amount spent on refreshment, she explained that aside the 151 members, others who benefited included the security at the place, reporters, volunteers, other invited guests, civil servants and experts who were working for various government ministries, departments and agencies.

She said even if it was only the 151 members who spent the GH¢135,316.30, a simple mathematics would show that the government spent not more than GH¢18 on each member per day and this included launch, water, tea and snacks.

Mrs Okaikoi noted that the NDC Transition Team had to rely on most of the civil servants and other consultants and personnel of companies working for the government because the New Patriotic Party (NPP) team decided on their own volition not to participate in the process and added that it was one of the reasons that the process was prolonged.

“You should not forget that President Mills and his Vice operated from the Accra International Conference Centre, where the transition process took place, for three weeks before they moved to the castle, and in these three weeks, most of the guests and other dignitaries, as well as their entourage who called on the President and the vice at least took a bottle of water or a cup of tea,” she explained.

She added that initially the team was being served breakfast but after two weeks the leadership decided that the breakfast should be scrapped to save extra revenue for the government.

Mrs Okaikoi noted that the transition work had been very beneficial to the NDC government in particular and the entire nation in general because it had allowed for smooth takeover from the previous government.

“The transition committee and its work was not an inquisitorial as our brothers in the NPP wanted the world to believe; it was to ensure that the members of the in-coming administration were conversant with government business. Truly it had been an eye-opener for us,” she said.