The Minority in Parliament has described as mischievous the claim by Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia that a GHC7billion expenditure was hidden from the country’s financial books by the erstwhile Mahama government.
According to the minority, the said expenditure is accurately covered by data at the Finance ministry.
Dr. Bawumia speaking Tuesday at a forum in Accra organized by Krif Ghana Limited in collaboration with Action Chapel International and the US Embassy, said the expenses range from 2014 to 2016.
According to him, the amount was detected as the new government prepares the 2017 budget which is expected to be presented in March.
“As we interrogated the data to see exactly why our public finances are in the state they are, we found that there is GH¢7 billion of expenditure that has not been disclosed,” Dr. Bawumia said, asking: “Where have they [GHC7 billion] been hiding all these years?”
Responding to the claim, former deputy finance minister Cassiel Ato Forson told a news conference in Accra Wednesday that the Vice President is being mischievous with his claim.
“What he said is trying to set aside what we wanted to achieve as a country. Most countries are going the way we are trying to go by way of keeping track and records of government expenditure. The money he claims are missing are sitting there in the books of the finance ministry. And so nothing is missing, what he said is mischievous and he should desist from it,” he said.
