A Political Scientist and Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asa Asante has urged government be transparent and honest in its expenditure following revelation by President Akufo-Addo that the country will soon return to the international capital market to borrow.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta had earlier stressed Ghana’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, stating that Ghana will not hastily seek to return to the international capital market for borrowing.
Speaking at the Qatar-Africa Economic Forum in Doha, President AKufo-Addo said even though his government is in no rush to return to the international market, it makes sense to take advantage of the market now and make some savings.
“We have positioned ourselves to be able to go back into the International market which had been a source of funding for us during the first three or four years of our government,” the president said, adding, “There is no rush but obviously why not take advantage of global savings, it makes a lot of sense to me. We will try as much as possible to maintain the discipline which is required and the most important requisite for a successful programme.”
Ghana has received $604m from the International Monetary Fund as first tranche of its bailout.
Commenting on the issue in an interview on Morning Starr on Starr FM, Dr. Asa Asante urged the Akufo-Addo led government to be open in its use of state funds as honesty and sincerity are critical components of good governance.
“If you’re governing a people you need to be transparent, you need to be honest and sincere about what you say. Let’s look at the issue of expenditure, people have said time and again that government expenditure is too huge relative to certain areas. Let’s look at the issue of ministerial appointment and the size of government, all advices have fallen on deaf ears, government will not listen to it and they keep on doing the wrong things that have brought us this far. I don’t know whether this time around government will get the courage to do what they want to do. Because IMF, as soon as they come to your country and have a relationship with you, two things that they bring to the fore. One, resource, and two, discipline. The public talked about it but government was adamant. But this time around, the government has no choice than to do the bidding of the IMF because failure to which, there are sanctions.”
“…There are unnecessary expenditure that we encounter in this country, waste for that matter. Auditor-General Report comes in handy to give us knowledge about what is happening. I think that this government must take steps to look at all these things and plug these holes if we want to really work within the frame work of the IMF conditionalities,” Dr. Asa Asante added.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh
