Game-Changing Budget Statement

Budget reading days have been mostly abstract, with the populace hardly taking notice of them. Yesterday's was unlike any of the previous budget days, the heightened expectations of Ghanaians being the underlying factor for the visible anxiety.

It was a maiden budget statement from a government which came to power on the mantra of change and expectedly the opposition elements were ready to punch holes in areas of seeming unrealism but there were none. In spite of the usually technical nature of budget statements beyond the comprehension of the uninitiated, this one had spare part dealers rejoicing because they could see inhibitive taxes melting away and their businesses given whiffs of new life. Similar stories permeated other spheres of endeavours.

It has been dubbed 'Asempa' Budget, to wit, good news budget and we could not agree more with the nomenclature.

Considering the reliefs contained in the statement there is no way we can avoid asking why the previous government had to take the people of this country on that tortuous journey to nowhere.

If the new government has determined that it can survive without stretching the people of Ghana to breaking point, it stands to reason that there was something their predecessors did not understand about governance. Or put alternatively, they found in fleecing their compatriots an avenue which inured to their personal interests. The word for such obsession is 'selfishness.'

The Finance Minister referred to the economy the new government inherited as a challenged one. Nobody can dispute this description given what the economic fundamentals have been over the years even in an oil-driven economy.

Erroneous figures were churned out and these did not reflect the reality on the ground. And so in the end even as the government flaunted a picture of progress, the economy was retrogressing.

Even in opposition they continue to dangle lies- mendaciousness which sent them packing from the Flagstaff House.

They want Ghanaians to believe that the incumbent government cannot deliver the stressed people of this country from their NDC inflicted predicament.

Making good the promises of relief for stressed  Ghanaians during the campaign season, as evident amply in the budget statement, President Akufo-Addo has kept faith with Ghanaians. This attribute of political integrity once more stands the incumbent government apart from what visited Ghana in the past eight years.

'A President and government in a hurry' is an expression, which surfaced in the Finance Minister's statement. We should be in a hurry to reverse the negative growth situation we were enmeshed in even as propaganda held sway in the everyday life of the government.

We salute the managers of the economy whose budget says it all about their intention to move the country forward at a cruising speed.

There is now light at the end of the tunnel and Ghanaians can heave a sigh of relief that at last those at the helm are persons intent on making an indelible impact on the life of a nation which has been subjected to an unnecessary period of thievery and reckless management of her economy.

Fiscal indiscipline was a visible feature of the previous government and we shudder to think that but for the decision of Ghanaians to oust them through the ballot box this country could have continued on that downward spiral. We were in an economic regime of weak commitment to controls, hence the appalling state of affairs.

For a country in which agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, it is reprehensible that bad government could result in the erratic performance of this sector. Thankfully the interventions, as announced yesterday, bring in the game-changing formula we have longed for.